


The Sweetest Gem

by The_Rarispy



Series: The Gems Saga [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Cross-Posted on FiMFiction.net, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Foalshipping, Plus tons and tons of miscellanious ship teases, Pre-Season 2 finale, Some foreshadowing to future chapters in the Gems Saga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 01:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10452240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Rarispy/pseuds/The_Rarispy
Summary: Sweetie Belle attempts to deal with the realization that she's developed a crush on Spike. Meanwhile, Spike's own feelings are in flux.





	1. Sapphires and Sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fresh from the depths of 2012!
> 
> I originally had the idea for this fic back when SpikeBelle was, well... an almost-unknown shipping. It always seemed like a logical pairing to me: Spike likes Rarity, Rarity has a sister closer to his age, bada boom bada bing!
> 
> But I also didn't want to fall into the cheap trap of "Spike realizes Rarity won't love him back, so might as well start hitting on the next best thing!" Hence why I decided it would be far more interesting to tell this story from Sweetie Belle's perspective.
> 
> Nowadays, this shipping has become more popular and there are actually a number of great SpikeBelle fics out on the Web. But, I hope you still enjoy my early effort to spark some life this sweet pairing and stay tuned for more stories on the horizon!

“Careful now, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom held a beaker of orange liquid in her mouth very precariously, ready to drop it over a flask filled with a bubbling purple liquid.

“Easy, easy, and… NOW!”

Scrunching her eyes shut, Apple Bloom tilted the beaker and let the liquid fall into the flask. A spark lit up the room for a split second as a faint green cloud arose from the flask, before fading into the air. The liquid, which had now turned a deep red, bubbled furiously for a few seconds before quickly subsiding.

“Coooooool!” exclaimed all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Your turn now, Sweetie Belle!” said Apple Bloom, nudging Sweetie Belle.

“Okay!” With a wide grin on her face, she grabbed another beaker full of green liquid and poured it in.

“No, wait! Don’t—” Scootaloo began.

But it was too late. A violent explosion rocked Twilight’s library, sending books and shards of glass everywhere in a flurry of dark smoke. Luckily, nopony was hurt in the blast, but all the beakers and flasks were shattered and the library was left covered in deep gray soot.

The Crusaders dusted themselves off and examined their flanks with hopeful smiles beaming. Nothing, as usual. They all groaned in disappointment.

“Oh, no! My library!” cried Twilight Sparkle. “It’s going to take me forever to get this stuff off of my books!”

“We’re really sorry, Twilight,” said Apple Bloom. All three of the Crusaders looked down in guilt.

“Ohhhh…” Twilight looked around at the mess with a hoof to her chin, but then she saw the guilty looks on their faces. “Don’t worry, girls. It wasn’t your fault. I’ll get this place all cleaned up… eventually.”

“Sounds like my cue,” muttered Spike as he enthusiastically got to work sweeping the dust.

“I guess it was _my_ fault for trusting you girls with my old chemistry set,” said Twilight. “At least it wasn’t one of my more advanced sets, or else I might have some much _bigger_ problems around here!”

“Looks like we’re not getting our Cutie Marks in chemistry, then,” said Scootaloo dejectedly as the three of them all began to walk towards the door, hanging their heads low.

“Don’t worry girls, I’m sure you’ll find your special talents, eventually,” Twilight said with a reassuring smile. She paused for a moment, and then added, “Maybe you should all take a good, hard look at all the things you’re good at already. Maybe then you’ll—”

“But that’s what we’re doing!” Sweetie Belle replied. “We’re doing all sorts of crazy things and seeing what kind of stuff we’re good at…”

“…so we can find our Cutie Marks!” added Apple Bloom.

“And we’re not going to stop until we get them!” exclaimed Scootaloo. They proudly high-hoofed each other in their moment of pride.

Twilight sighed, and decided to tend to the broken equipment. All the shattered glass on the floor made it look like somepony had just busted through Twilight’s window.

“Thanks for the help anyway, Twilight,” said Apple Bloom. “Goodbye!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both walked out the door. Sweetie Belle started to leave as well, but she noticed Spike cheerfully humming to himself while he swept. She tried to resist staring for long, but she just couldn’t help but gaze at him.

Her eyes met the purple dragon, adorned with green scales along his back, and became lost in his image. They followed his tiny dragon feet as they side-stepped in place, almost in a dancing sort of motion. His tail swung around in tune with his hips, in a motion that mesmerized her. But most of all, it was his smile that just made her hooves tingle. Her smile grew into a warm grin as she walked over to him, but when he turned to look at her for a second, her whole face flinched away.

_Why do I still keep freezing up like this whenever I go to talk to him? Spike and I are really good friends, so why do I always feel nervous like this? Why won’t my hooves stop tingling?_

She hesitated to speak, and even flinched again before she finally drew up all her courage to utter those two simple words.

“H-hey, Spike!”

“Huh?” replied Spike, looking up to meet the filly’s eyes. “Oh! Hey, Sweetie Belle. I… thought you guys were leaving.”

Sweetie gulped, her hooves tingling so much that they were beginning to tremble. “I just wanted to— I was— I was, just wondering if you… needed any help cleaning up?”

“Oh! Um, not really. I think I can handle it by myself.”

“A- are you sure?” Sweetie inquired. “Cause I mean, I could—”

“Come on, Sweetie Belle!” shouted Scootaloo through the door. “We gotta get moving!”

“I’m coming!” Sweetie shouted back. “Bye, Spike!” She gave a gentle wave to him and ran out to join her friends, grinning wider than usual. Even her walking seemed to have that extra kick to it now.

“Well, that was another bust,” said Scootaloo as she hopped onto her scooter. “Man, we’re never going to find our Cutie Marks at this rate!”

“Aw come on now, don’t give up,” replied Apple Bloom. “There are still a million different things we haven’t tried yet! I’m sure if we keep our heads up, we’ll find out what we’re good at eventually!” Sweetie Belle joined her red-haired friend in the wagon and strapped her helmet on, ready for a new adventure.

“There you are!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “What took you so long, anyway?”

“Sorry,” replied Sweetie Belle. “I was just— just talking to Spike for a minute. That’s all.”

* * *

_Huh. Sweetie Belle sure is nice. Nopony’s ever asked to help me clean before, except for Twilight. Hmm, that’s actually kind of_ —

“That’s okay, Spike,” said Twilight, levitating the broom out of Spike’s hands. “I can take care of this. You’d better get going.”

“Huh? Go where? Wait… holy guacamole, that’s right! I promised Rarity I was going to come over and be her assistant today! How could I possibly forget that? Thanks, Twilight!” He waved goodbye as he ran out the door.

 _Ah, well. I’ll just sweep for him here and… hmm, that is kind of puzzling, actually. How_ did _Spike forget that he was going to see Rarity? He’s never done that before._

* * *

“…and a few more beads here,” said Rarity. She levitated some blue beads from a box that Opalescence was precariously balancing on her head. Today was an especially important day for her at the Carousel Boutique. She was preparing a very special dress, and had been so enraptured when Spike offered to be her personal assistant for the day.

“Let’s see, four more ought to do it. Hmm, actually now that I think about it, five would look much better. No, I’m going to stay with my original instinct! There shall be four beads on this section! Ohhh—” As she contemplated her soon-to-be-brilliant work, the bell above the door rang and Spike walked in.

“Hi, Rarity! Sorry I’m a little late. I uh, kinda lost track of time.” Rarity didn’t respond however; she was focusing all of her attention on the dress. Spike walked up behind her. “Um, Rarity? Hello?” He poked her leg, however this startled the lovely fashionista and she slipped off of her stool.

“WHOA!”

“I gotcha, Rarity!” Taking the chance to be Rarity’s hero, Spike made a bold dive and caught Rarity by the back just before she hit the ground. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Rarity! I didn’t mean to scare you like that!”

“Oh that’s quite alright, Spike,” Rarity replied. “I do apologize. I was so busy tending to this design that I didn’t hear you come in. But I’m so glad that you’re here now. Opal can be a rather clumsy assistant sometimes.”

Rarity’s stubborn cat just ignored the criticisms and climbed into her bed, purring in relief now that the tedium was over.

“That dress must be really important then, huh?”

“Oh, Spike,” chuckled Rarity as she nuzzled his head. “I consider _all_ of my dresses to be important. But yes, this dress is a little more special than usual. It was commissioned to me by a most esteemed client from Canterlot, the one and only Rachelle Ruby! Can you even imagine? THE Rachelle Ruby, the pony who—”

She continued talking, but Spike wasn’t paying attention. He was lost in her absolute beauty. His gaze focused on her rich purple mane, bouncing up as she talked, and he watched her eyelashes flutter as she blinked. Just looking at Rarity was enough to send Spike’s heart rocketing.

 _She’s so beautiful. That gorgeous flowing mane, those delicately plucked eyelashes, and her rich, soothing voice. Oh, Rarity. How I wish you could see the way I really feel about you. How I just wish that we could be together forever, you and me, and nobody else_ —

The bell above the door rung again, silencing both Rarity’s long-winded ramble and Spike’s own thoughts.

* * *

“See you tomorrow, Sweetie Belle!” called Apple Bloom.

Sweetie Belle waved back to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo before fully entering what had recently become her permanent home. She still had a soft smile crossing her lips, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Spike in the room.

 _Shoot! I didn’t expect him to be here! Maybe I should just come back later… oh, what’s the use? They already know I’m here. And I have to talk to Rarity sooner or later. I need to know that what I think I’m feeling for Spike is true_.

She gulped for a second before approaching the both of them. She was braving her own nervousness now, trying to ignore her heart racing faster and faster the closer she walked to Spike and Rarity.

“Hello, Sweetie!” said Rarity. “Any luck on acquiring that Cutie Mark yet?”

“Not yet,” replied Sweetie Belle. “Do you need any help with that dress?”

“Uh, no that’s quite alright, but thank you for offering.” Sweetie’s head drooped in response.

“Oh, come on now, Sweetums. I know I usually let you help me out, and you’ve grown to be quite a competent little assistant.” She nuzzled Sweetie’s head, but she brushed her away. “It’s just that I really can’t take any risks today; this dress has to come out absolutely perfect. And besides, Spike already offered all the help that I need right now.”

“Oh. Well, okay. But um, actually sis, can I ask you something… in the back room? It’s kind of important.”

“I’m very sorry Sweetie, but could you please wait?” she replied. “I am in the zone right now, as they say.”

“Please? I _really_ need to talk to you about something.” She made a desperate puppy-dog face and quivered her lip. She’d been searching for answers long enough.

“Oh… all right. I suppose I can take a moment’s break.”

* * *

“Well, you see, it’s kind of… hard to say, exactly. I, um…”

The two of them were alone in the back room now, free of Spike’s earshot, but Sweetie Belle was still having difficulty trying to convey what she wanted to ask. After all, it was a very conscious subject for her.

_How should I do this? I know what I want to say, but… how will she react?_

“Have some tea, Sweetie,” said Rarity. “It’ll help you get your thoughts into order.” Sweetie sipped the tea and made a heavenly sigh. _Rarity’s tea is just the best._ “There we go. Now you were saying?”

“So, well, the thing is, I have this friend, and she’s worried because she thinks that she might like one of her really good friends.”

“Um… well, I should hope that she likes them,” replied Rarity with a confused expression. “Liking somepony is sort of what being a good friend is all about, Sweetie Belle.”

“No no no,” said Sweetie, shaking her head. “Not _that_ kind of like. I mean, she _like_ likes one of her good friends. Like, even more than usual. Like maybe, maybe she feels warmer or happier whenever he’s around or when she talks to him, or even when she’s thinking about him!”

“Ohhh…” replied Rarity. Sweetie almost thought she saw a coy smile escape her older sister’s mouth. “Well Sweetums, the answer is obvious. Don’t you see?” Sweetie remained motionless.

“Your friend fancies her companion, Sweetie Belle! Those strong feelings of warmth and longing, those are all feelings of love and passion! Destiny is making its mark, and it has decided that these two are fated to love one another and be in each other’s hooves!”

“Right…” said Sweetie. Her eyes darted back and forth as the thoughts ran through her mind. _That’s just what I was afraid of. I can’t run away from it any longer. I_ — _I’m in love with Spike! I… I have a crush on a dragon!_ “Thanks for telling me, sis. I, um… I gotta go!” As soon as she left, a very sly smile developed along Rarity’s lips.

“You know, Sweetie Belle, I sure hope that this ‘friend’ will eventually gather enough courage to tell her big sister the _whole_ truth.”

* * *

Sweetie Belle looked over to Spike again. He was moving around the room looking for Rarity’s chest of jade green emeralds. Taking a good look at him erased all the doubts in her mind.

The way his legs and arms moved when he hustled was one of the cutest things Sweetie had ever seen. She watched as his tail wagged with excitement, influencing her own tail to start shifting slightly.

But what captivated Sweetie the most was the fierce look of determination on Spike’s face. He was going to find that chest, no matter what. Her heart raced watching that face, that bold and heroic-looking face. Warm feelings coursed through her entire body.

 _Well, it’s true. I’m definitely in love with Spike. Well… I guess, no. It’s just a crush, or… No, no! I just like Spike a little more than any other friend, that’s all! I’m just going to talk to him like a friend, and nothing else! … Oh no, here he comes! Act natural!_ “Hi, Spike!”

“Hey, Sweetie Belle… again. Gosh, you’re just everywhere today!”

“I’m not following you!” Sweetie suddenly yammered.

“I… never said you were,” said Spike, taken aback by her response. “Are you okay, Sweetie Belle?”

 _Oh wow, he just said my name! Why am I so excited that he said my name?_ “Um, nothing. Nothing. It’s just— I-I’m just…” _Way to go, Sweetie Belle. Now you’re embarrassing yourself…_ “Hey Spike, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Sweetie. What is it?” Even though it was obviously her name, she still couldn’t help but blush when Spike called her ‘Sweetie’, and she desperately tried to cover up this blushing.

“Well, Spike, the thing is, we’re… friends, right? Like, good friends?”

“Well, yeah. Of course we’re good friends,” replied Spike. He scratched his head, clearly confused by the way Sweetie Belle was reacting. As soft-spoken as Rarity’s younger sister had been lately, she didn’t usually stumble over her own words. But then again, she was now more aware of the truth behind her feelings.

“No, I mean like, really, _really_ good friends. Really, really _great_ friends.” She leaned in close to him, even though she was feeling just as tense as Spike. Spike was even starting to blush himself. Sweetie noticed this and backed away from him a little, trying to ignore her hooves tingling.

“Well, I… yeah, I’d say we’re really great friends,” he replied. “Because well, ever since you moved in with Rarity, we’ve been seeing each other a lot more lately. I see you at Rarity’s place all the time now, and you and the Crusaders are always crossing by. Now that I think about it actually, you’ve been talking with me just by yourself a lot lately.”

“You’re right, I guess I have. I didn’t really notice,” said Sweetie Belle, chuckling nervously. “Well, I guess I’m gotta go now. See you later, Spike.” She only walked two steps before wincing to herself.

_What am I doing? I can’t just talk to him like he’s just a friend, because… I lo— like, like him more than a friend now. I should be doing more than just talking to him, right? I have to do something nicer than that, but what? Something nicer, something nicer… Hang on._

“Hey, Spike?”

“Yeah?” he replied.

“I— well, I’ve been thinking and I really want you to have this.” What she then pulled out of her saddlebag made Spike’s eyes grow wide with awe.

The gemstone was almost bigger than Sweetie’s head, and it glistened in the reflection cast by the window. The blue shine that it cast was almost enough to make Spike want to cover his eyes.

“I-is that… for me?” asked Spike, his eyes dilating and his mouth watering. Sweetie couldn’t help but smile at how adorable Spike looked as he fawned over the gem. “That’s the biggest ocean sapphire I’ve ever seen!”

* * *

“Now… this should be just enough rolls of cloth for… huh?” Rarity was exiting the back room with more supplies for her dress. But she stopped and her eyes widened in surprise when she caught sight of the sapphire. It was such a large priceless stone, and… Sweetie Belle had been holding on to it the whole time?

 _Now, where in the name of Equestria did she obtain_ that _?_

“I found it once when our class went on a field trip to Cherry Bomb Mountain,” Sweetie explained to Spike. “I kept it around all this time, because I really didn’t know what I was going to do with it. And well, I was thinking, like I said, and… I really think that you should have it.” She held out the sapphire to him. Spike was enamored, whilst Rarity bit her arm in a conflict of self-control.

_‘Didn’t know what she was going to do with it’, my flank! My dresses would be the absolute pinnacle of dresses in Canterlot if they were adorned with such a rare and valuable brand of sapphire! And there she is just handing it off to Spike, and he’s probably going to thoughtlessly snack on it later!_

Despite these mental objections, something in her heart told her not to intervene. Hesitantly, she forced herself to retreat into the back room again to look for more supplies.

* * *

“I- I don’t know what to say.” Spike accepted the sapphire, and embraced it in his arms for a moment, eying the glossy deep blue surface that adorned the gem. “Sweetie Belle, this is… the nicest, sweetest thing that anyone has ever given me. Thank you. … Huh? Is something wrong, Sweetie?”

Sweetie had turned herself away from Spike, trying to hide her intensely red face. Spike’s compliment had made her feel extremely twitterpated, and now she was afraid that her whole body was going to flush red.

“Nothing! Nothing’s wrong! It’s just… I just… I really need to go somewhere else!” In a flash, she darted out the door. “See you later, Spike!”

“Sweetie Belle?” Spike gazed at the sapphire in his hands and then back at the door. _What’s wrong with her?_ He reached a claw out, as if to call after her.


	2. The Chosen One

_Why is this happening? I’ve never blushed around Spike like this before! What’s wrong with me? Is this what ‘love’ is supposed to feel like?_

Sweetie’s running slowed the further she got from the Carousel Boutique. When she finally made it to the park, she stopped at a tree, very much out of breath. Although her body began to calm down, her mind was running rampant.

_So… it’s true, then. It really is true. I thought that I had a crush on Spike, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know I could fall in love! I thought I was too young to like somepony like that, but… Rarity says I do, and nopony else would know better than her. I guess I knew it all along. The way I looked at him. I wouldn’t gaze at anypony else like that. Wow. I didn’t even_ know _a pony could like a dragon. I always thought I’d have a crush on a colt… like everypony else._  
  
 _What do I do now? Should I actually do something about it? Do I really want him to know that I have a crush on him? Do I want_ anyone _to know I have a crush on Spike? What if it’s really weird for a pony to like a dragon?_  
  
 _And even worse, what if Spike doesn’t lo— like me back? I’m a pony who likes a dragon, but what if dragons can’t have a crush on ponies? What If they only like other dragons? I’ve already become really good friends with Spike, and if I told him that I like him, then maybe he, he’ll think I’m just a sick freak and he won’t even want to be my friend anymore!_

Tears welling up in her eyes, she buried her head in the thick trunk. _What? What do I do next?_

"Oh, dear! Are you okay?" Sweetie’s glistening eyes looked up to see a timid yellow pegasus looking down at her with a deeply concerned face.

"I-I'm fine, Fluttershy. Nothing's wrong," she replied.

"Are you sure? You looked upset. Is everything alright?" asked Fluttershy.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m happier than a buzzing bee,” she stated, putting on a false grin and breaking into a trot.

"Um, okay,” said Fluttershy, shyly shuffling her hooves. “But you know, Sweetie Belle, if you ever need to talk to somepony, you can always come by my cottage. I'd be more than happy to talk."

"Thanks, Fluttershy. But I’m fine, honestly.”

* * *

The sun had almost completely set as Sweetie Belle walked up to her bedroom. When she came home, Rarity had already finished her important dress and Spike had gone home. Sweetie mostly isolated herself in her room for the rest of the day, thinking about her situation.

_I can’t tell Fluttershy or Rarity, because they might think I’m weird for liking a dragon. I guess… I just have to keep these feelings to myself and not tell anyone._

When she walked into her room, her older sister was tidying up her bed for her.

“Hello Sweetie,” said Rarity. “Don’t mind me. I just decided to straighten up your bed for you tonight. You seem like you’ve had a long day.”

“Thanks Rarity,” said Sweetie Belle as she climbed into bed. “I guess I’ve had a pretty weird day.” Rarity was going to say good night, but she sighed and decided she needed to confront her younger sister.

“Sweetie Belle deary, you simply _must_ tell me if something is wrong. You barely even had a scrap of your supper, and you’ve been acting, well… very out of sorts as of late. Is something troubling you? Anything at all?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Sweetie replied. “I’m just exhausted. We were out crusading all day and… it’s just been crazy. But I’m fine, really.”

“You’re overwhelmed. Don’t worry, I know the feeling. Good night, Sweetums. Let’s hope you feel better tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Good night, Rarity.” Rarity gave her sister a gentle kiss on the horn and almost left the room, but after a minute, she turned around again.

“Sweetie Belle? I just wanted to tell you, you’re my little sister, and I care for you a lot. If you ever had a problem and didn’t know who to turn to, I’ll always be there to help. Do you understand?”

Sweetie nodded. When Rarity went back downstairs however, she clearly had a look of disappointment on her face.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle… why won’t you just tell me that you’re in love?”

* * *

He was surrounded in all directions by fearsome ninja ponies. They closed in on him. Being ambushed on the roof of a zeppelin, the tall and handsome young dragon was running out of options.

“Looks like I’ve got no other choice. If you don’t all get out of my way, you’re going to PAY!”

“Just try and stop us,” the lead ninja retorted. “If you so much as make a single move, you’ll never see her again!”

“Very well, then.”

The bold and hunky dragon took a deep inhale. He then unleashed a great storm of fire breath, spewing it at his enemies. The ninja ponies were so frightened that they all jumped off the zeppelin, deploying their parachutes as they descended.

“Not a single move,” he proudly stated.

“YAAAAHHHH!” The lead ninja, the only one left, drew his Wakizashi and charged at the great firebreather of purple and green.

But the young, heroic dragon was exceptionally crafty. He quickly took a side-step, leading the ninja to instead fall right off of the edge of the zeppelin.

“You haven’t seen the last of us, Spike the Chosen One!” he yelled as he deployed his own parachute.

With all the ninjas defeated, the young dragon climbed back into the zeppelin and charged through its halls, until he finally punched open the door that stood between him and his fair maiden, tied to a chair and about to fall off the bridge.

“EEYAAHH! Somepony save me!” she yelled. The young dragon dashed towards her as fast as he could.

“I’m coming, my fair Rarity!” And with a swift jump into the air, he grabbed one of the chair’s legs with one hand, and the rail of the bridge with the other, and set the fair maiden down. Next, he pulled out his army knife and quickly untied her.

“Oh, thank you, Spike the Chosen One!” said the fair maiden. “You’re my _incredibly_ handsome and dashing hero!”

“It was all in a day’s work, my fair Rarity.” Her purple mane blew in the high winds. No other maiden could look so beautiful at this altitude.

They both puckered their lips and closed their eyes as they got ready to share a kiss. The young dragon eventually opened his eyes, but when he did, he didn’t see the fair maiden anymore, but rather… a much younger filly.

“Hi, Spike!”

* * *

“YAAAHHHH!”

Spike sat up in his basket. His awesome dream of rescuing Rarity had gone well until the end, when she suddenly turned into Sweetie Belle.

_Oh, man. Just when I had finally gotten some sleep, too. Ugh, why does Sweetie Belle keep getting into my head? Ever since she gave me that big sapphire and suddenly ran out of Rarity’s shop, I’ve just been thinking about her all day! I still wish I knew why she ran out. She seemed really scared. Why?_  
  
Feeling restless, he gazed out the window, at Luna’s moon and all the stars twinkling in the sky. It was probably his imagination, but they seemed like they weren’t twinkling as brightly as they normally would. The only other light in the room was the shine cast by Sweetie Belle’s sapphire, which made Spike squint when he looked in its direction.

“It was probably just a bad dream,” he scoffed. “Maybe if I try sleeping again, I’ll have a much better dream… about Rarity this time, I hope.”

* * *

The next morning, Rarity woke up earlier than usual and decided to use that time to prepare a hearty breakfast for herself and Sweetie Belle. As she added the last touch of garnish, a shining light out the window told her that Princess Celestia had just finished raising the sun.

“This enriching meal should be just the thing to lift that little filly’s mood,” Rarity said to herself. “Maybe now, she’ll feel entrusted enough to fully share her feelings with me. I’ve read more than enough romance novels to see right through that persistent little wall of denial. She’s a pony in love and just can’t find the strength to tell me.” _There’s also the fact that several of those novels have recently gone missing from my shelf._

Just as she finished setting the table, Sweetie Belle came into the kitchen.

“Ugh, good morning,” she said.

“Good morning, Sweetu— AAH!”

“AAH! Wh-what’s wrong?” Sweetie asked, panicking. “Is there something in my teeth?”

“Honestly honey, your teeth should be the least of your worries! You look positively awful!” Rarity exclaimed, examining Sweetie’s mane and face. "Sweet Celestia, did you have trouble falling asleep last night?"

"No. Well, maybe a little bit..." Sweetie meekly replied. “Whoa! You made breakfast early this morning.”

“Not entirely. You overslept, darling.” She levitated a comb over and started straightening out her sister’s frazzled mane. “Now, why don’t you come over and have breakfast while I ask you some questions about this friend of yours who’s in love?”

Sweetie Belle gulped. _Get me out of here. Right now._

* * *

“Maybe she overslept or something, I don’t know,” said Scootaloo. She and Apple Bloom were both walking down the path to the Carousel Boutique. “Or maybe she wasn’t even paying attention when we all agreed that we were going to have a meeting at the clubhouse this morning.”

“Hey now,” scolded Apple Bloom. “That’s awful harsh, don’t ya think?”

“Well, it’s true! Haven’t you seen her lately? She keeps getting distracted and not paying attention to anything when we’re doing stuff! We tried running a paper route the other day and she kept throwing them into the ponies’ yards and windows! And you remember what she did yesterday when we were trying to be chemists…”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s probably not her fault,” said Apple Bloom. Scootaloo made an uneasy grunt before she knocked on the Boutique’s door. Sweetie Belle was the one who answered it, a look of relief on her face.

“There you are!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Apple Bloom and I were waiting for you! We were gonna hold a meeting at the clubhouse today, remember?”

“We were?” Scootaloo glared at her, and then shot Apple Bloom an annoyed expression, her theory confirmed. “Well, okay then. Sorry for being late. Um… bye, sis! I’m going out with the Crusaders now!”

“What?” replied Rarity with a surprised look on her face. “But you haven’t finished your breakfast yet! I still had more things to talk about!”

“That’s okay, I’m full anyway! I’ll see you later!” She went out the door with her friends, sighing as soon she was out. “Thank goodness,” she quietly muttered to herself.

"Oh,” said Rarity to herself. “I thought for sure I could get Sweetie Belle to admit that _she’s_ the one with a crush, and on whom. I have to make sure that she doesn’t get hurt, like _I_ did with that big blowhard of a prince…”

Going to close the door, she almost stumbled on Opalescence. The cat yowled at Rarity in response, angry at having been woken up from her nap.

“All right, I’ve had just about enough of this!” exclaimed Rarity, as she growled in frustration. “As soon as that filly is home again, I’ll see to it that she opens up about her love one way or another! You’d think we’ve bonded as sisters enough that she would feel comfortable enough with me, but apparently not! I have to take matters into my own hooves before— before her heart is broken.”

* * *

"And then, we're going to hit Sugarcube Corner and see if we can get our Cutie Marks in frosting cakes and cupcakes!” Scootaloo recapped. “How does that sound?”

“Well…” said Sweetie. “That could work, I guess. Or if we aren’t good at baking sweets, we could always see how good we are at _making_ tasty treats. I wouldn’t mind a cake-maker’s Cutie Mark like the Cakes.”

“Hmm, I guess so, but… didn’t we try baking things last week?” asked Scootaloo.

“Did we?” said Sweetie. “I don’t remember... Wait, oh yeah! We did. Oops. I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright,” said Scootaloo. “Anyways, after that, we're gonna stop by Vinyl's studio to… uh, what were we gonna do there again, Apple Bloom?"

"Well, I was just thinkin' that maybe our Cutie Marks could be music-related," explained Apple Bloom. "And Vinyl's studio would be the perfect place to test it out! Maybe she'll let us play with her microphones and those big stereo speakers..." While she continued speaking, Sweetie put her head to the floor, still in a flux about her crush.

_I wish there was somepony I could talk to, but who can I trust that not call me a freak? I know I can’t tell Spike. He probably doesn’t like me back, I’m sure of it. Whatever happens, I don’t want to risk our friendship._  
  
 _Why did I have to have a crush_ now _, and on Spike of all po— Err… Why can’t I just be a filly and have fun, and worry about a crush when I’m older? And it’d be much simpler if it was a PONY that I liked!_

"—and maybe we can spin some records on the turntables and play some jams!" Scootaloo jumped up in excitement. "Yeah! I bet I would make a great DJ! Just imagine the Cutie Mark! What do you think, Sweetie Belle?" After gaining only silence in reply, Scootaloo adopted a puzzled expression. "Um, Sweetie Belle? Yo! Equestria to Sweetie Belle! HELLO!"

"Huh? What?" Sweetie was awoken from her thoughts as an orange pegasus shook her shoulders, looking very annoyed. "Oh, uh... yeah! I think that's a great idea, Scootaloo! Um, what was your idea again?"

"Ugh! Man, what is with you lately?" Scootaloo huffed. "You keep forgetting about our meetings, and you’re never focused anymore! _I’m_ the one whose head should be in the clouds!"

“I don’t know, I guess I’ve just had some things on my mind. I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

"What are you so caught up with that ya can't even tell _us_?" Apple Bloom inquired. "We're your friends, Sweetie Belle. We'd listen to any problems you had. You never know, maybe my special talent is helping other ponies’ problems!" Her fellow Crusader just growled in response to yet another reassurance card.

_If I wanted to talk to anypony, then I'd talk! I don’t need everypony holding my hoof everywhere. I’m a big filly now!_ "It's nothing, okay! I don't need to talk to you or anypony! Not Fluttershy, not Rarity, not anypony else! I'M FINE!"

"I- I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle. I just... wanted t’a..." Apple Bloom was almost on the verge of tears. Her friends were yelling all around her. Sweetie Belle drew back, realizing what she was doing.

"No, Apple Bloom. I'm sorry." She gave Apple Bloom a gentle hug. "It's just, I can’t take it anymore. Everypony's been trying to get me to talk to them about my problems. I'm sick of it! Why can't everypony just leave me alone?" By this point, Scootaloo's anger had faded, and she started shuffling her hoof on the floor in guilt. She hadn’t meant to make Sweetie so angry.

"Look Sweetie Belle, I really don't mean anything mean by this, but you _have_ been acting kind of weird lately. It really seems like something's bugging you, and... well, I think that maybe you should take the day off.”

"What? But I—"

"Please, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo continued. "I'm your best friend and I'm really worried about you. Please try to understand."

"But—"

Apple Bloom put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry none. If Scootaloo and I get our Cutie Marks today without you, then we won't rest until you've gotten yours too!" Sweetie was about to make a rebuttal, but she sighed in defeat. She wasn't going to get out of this.

_They’re right. I know they’re right._ She sadly began to walk towards the door.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo called.

"Yeah?"

"Listen, I know you said you're sick of everypony saying the same things, but... you know what I think? I think that maybe you _should_ try talking to somepony instead of keeping it all a secret."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom chimed in. "Applejack told me that when you keep your problems all bottled up, it just ain't good for ya at all and if you keep it up, then eventually that bottle will explode!"

Sweetie nodded in understanding. "Thanks, guys." She waved to her friends as she exited the clubhouse.

As she walked away, she considered her options and made a decision. “Alright, I have to do this.” She gulped. “Let’s just hope Fluttershy won’t think I’m sick.”


	3. Isolation

“Come on Twilight,” said Spike. “Why do we need to go for a stroll around the park this early in the afternoon? I’m still really tired. I barely slept a wink last night.”

“Exactly, Spike!” replied Twilight. “I can tell that you’re very stressed from all the work you’ve been doing lately, and it’s affecting your sleep pattern. Maybe a nice stroll through the park is just the thing you need to help you relax a little bit. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull colt.” The young dragon simply huffed, kicking the dirt as he walked alongside Twilight down the stone path.

“Yoo-hoo!”

Rarity trotted up to Twilight and Spike, having been walking the other way down the path.

“Oh, hi Rarity!” said Twilight. “What brings you out and about in the park?”

“Oh, I’m just on my way to the spa to help clear some tension off of my hooves,” she replied. “I always like to take the long way through the park because it also helps me relax a little. A self-cleansing walk, as it were. Anyway, I saw you two walking along, and I just had to stop by and take the opportunity to thank Spike again for being my assistant yesterday.”

“Oh, it was no problem, Rarity,” said Spike. “You know I’ll always be glad to help in any way I can, whether it’s digging up gems for you or just simply being your supply-fetcher… guy.”

“I know. You’re such a good friend, Spike. If it weren’t for your help, I probably wouldn’t have finished that masterpiece of a dress for Ms. Ruby yesterday and I’d be toiling away with it still instead of going to the spa today. I just can’t thank you enough, my little Spikey Wikey!” She leaned over and planted a kiss on Spike’s left cheek. His entire body went rigid as a diamond. “Well, I’d best be off, then. Ta-ta!”

As she galloped away, Spike felt the kiss mark left behind on his cheek, his cheeks blooming red with amore. His muscles still felt tense.

“Is that a blush?” Twilight slyly asked.

“Huh? I don’t know. Maybe!”

“Looks like a blush to me!” She made a small, retorting laugh. “Still got that crush on her, huh? Now _there’s_ something about you that doesn’t seem like it’ll go away soon.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right, Twilight.”

Spike’s eyes beamed. He had been feeling a lingering doubt in his mind, and he wasn’t sure why. Now he started to walk faster with his confidence brimming.

But then, the shine left his eyes as he looked out in front of him. Sweetie Belle was walking past the park entrance, on her way to Fluttershy’s cottage to seek help.

_Sweetie Belle…_

Something about the way Sweetie’s mane bounced up and down as she walked caught Spike’s attention. He continued staring at her until she was out of his sight. Once she left, Spike suddenly realized he had been subconsciously rubbing his cheek the whole time he was watching her.

_W-what? But…_

The cherry red kiss-mark that had adorned his cheek had faded into a more faint shade of red, and resting on his palm, it now looked like nothing more than a smear, a reflection.

But before he could think about it any further, he suddenly burped up a scroll. Twilight recognized the seal immediately.

“A letter from Princess Celestia?”

* * *

"Thanks for the tea, Fluttershy," said Sweetie Belle. "This tastes just like the kind Rarity always makes."

"Thank you, Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy replied. "You know, Rarity is the one who gave me the recipe for this tea in the first place. It always helps me calm down and relieve tension. Now, why don't you tell me _all_ about what’s made you so upset?"

“I’m not upset,” she replied through gritted teeth. Fluttershy knew better though, and gave Sweetie a knowing smile. "Well... okay, I guess I am having just a little problem.” She looked down shyly for a moment. "Promise not to tell anypony, _especially_ Rarity?"

The pink-haired pony gently nodded. "I won't say a word to anyone, not even Rarity."

“Well, the thing is—” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I- I have a crush.”

An awkward silence followed. Sweetie began to sweat; the look on Fluttershy’s face seemed to say it all.

“Fluttershy…? Please, please don’t be mad at me… I know that it’s really weird for a filly as young as me to like somepony…”

“Oh, not at all!” Fluttershy hastily responded. “I’m sorry, Sweetie. I just wasn’t expecting that you were upset because of a crush. Why, I think that’s terrific that you managed to find love already!”

“You think so?”

“Absolutely! I think finding true love is better the earlier that it happens. You’re so lucky, Sweetie. If… if it isn’t too much trouble, would you like to tell me their name?”

_This is the tricky part. Admitting I have a crush was one thing. But it’s_ who _I have a crush on that’ll be even harder for her to believe._

“I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to…” said Fluttershy.

“No- no, that’s alright,” replied Sweetie. She squeezed her eyes shut again, and hesitated for a few seconds before finally… “It’s Spike.”

This time, she quickly covered her hooves over her face and tingled with the fear of rejection. After a few seconds, she peeked out to see that Fluttershy’s face was not of shock or disgust, but was more inquisitive than anything.

“Spike…?”

“I know, I know, being in love as a young filly, sure. But… _look at me_! I’m a filly with a crush on a dragon. I’m nothing but… but a sick freak!”

“Don’t say that, Sweetie Belle!” Fluttershy suddenly shouted, a great tone of panic in her voice. “I mean… I don’t think you’re a freak, Sweetie Belle.” To prove her point, she flew over and gave Sweetie a passionate hug. “I think you’re a very normal, innocent and sweet pony.”

“Really?” Sweetie’s eyes glimmered with new hope. “But still, have you ever heard of a pony’s special somepony being a dragon?”

“I can’t say I have…” Fluttershy answered. “But if you ask me, I don’t think that matters at all. Your heart always knows the right place, and Spike’s not like other dragons, all big and scary. No, he’s a nice and charming guy, and so cute and clever too. If you forget about the fact that he breathes fire, then… he’s basically like a pony.”

“Wow…” Sweetie was beginning to cry now. This time it wasn’t of sadness, but of joy. _I can’t believe it. There really isn’t anything wrong with me. These feelings I have for Spike… they’re from my heart. That’s right. Rarity always used to say that your heart always knows what’s right, too. How could I have ever doubted it?_

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” she said sincerely. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“My pleasure,” she replied, seating herself again. However, she stopped smiling when she noticed Sweetie’s own smile slowly fade into a frown. “There’s still something else though, isn’t there? Something else you’re unsure of?”

“Yeah,” she quietly answered. “So, I have a crush on Spike, and it’s completely normal. But, what do I do now? Should I follow my heart and tell Spike how I feel about him? I don’t even know if he likes me back, or if he likes ponies at all.”

“Hmm. You’re right. I guess that is a problem,” said Fluttershy. “If you don’t mind, um… when did you first know you had a crush on Spike?”

“Well, that’s a funny story, actually…”

* * *

“ _Ever since I moved in with Rarity, I've gotten to spend more time with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo._ ”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all over Ponyville, engaging in numerous random things, all in efforts to try to earn their Cutie Marks. But besides striving for this noble goal, they also did things just as friends, such as having a picnic together and going to Twilight’s library to read books.

“ _But I also got to see my other friends a lot more, like Pinkie Pie and Miss Cheerilee, and… Spike._ ”

From behind Sweetie Belle, Spike was struggling to carry a stack of books, and he dropped one. Sweetie noticed, and she picked up the book for Spike, who looked very grateful for it. Later on, the two of them were seen reading that same book together.

“ _For a while, we were really just friends. I didn’t really think about Spike in any other way, until… that day._ ”

One day, Sweetie Belle was walking alone in the park, singing a soft tune to herself in tranquility. Meanwhile, Spike was picking some flowers alongside the path and putting them in a basket, humming to himself. Sweetie Belle began watching a yellow monarch butterfly as she walked, so she didn’t see where she was going before accidentally bumping into Spike.

“Oof!” The bump led to Spike dropping the basket, all the flowers inside spreading onto the ground. She gasped and put a hoof to her muzzle when she saw what she did. “Oh my goodness! I am so sorry, Spike!”

“That’s okay, Sweetie Belle,” said Spike.

“Here, let me help you pick all those up.” She leaned down and started picking up the flowers with Spike, putting them all into the basket.

“Whoo! Thanks. You’re a real friend, Sweetie.” She blushed with modesty, as Spike began counting all the flowers. “Huh. That’s weird.”

“What is it? Did I miss some of them?”

“No, it’s just…” He picked up one of the flowers. “There are twenty-one roses in here. Twilight only needed me to get twenty blue roses for Fluttershy’s birthday. I must’ve picked up an extra one by mistake. Hmm…” He thought for a minute, and then held it out to Sweetie with a smile. “Here, Sweetie. Why don’t you take it?”

“Huh?” Sweetie replied, with a confused look on her face.

“I only need twenty of them,” he explained. “Just think of it as my gift to a friend, for helping me pick up the flowers.” She took the flower and held it in her hooves.

“Gee, thanks Spike. I don’t know what to say…” Gazing at the flower, a soft smile started to spread on Sweetie’s lips.

“Hey, don’t mention it! Now, I should get these roses back to the library so Twilight and I can wrap them. See you later, Sweetie Belle!” said Spike, waving goodbye as he picked up the wagon and resumed walking.

“Yeah, bye…” said Sweetie Belle. She stared at the blue rose for a while, her eyes glistening. Little did she know, feelings were starting to churn inside of her. She felt an immense warmth through her body looking at that flower, all the bones in her body tingling as she thought of Spike handing it to her.

“ _It was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever given to me._ ”

* * *

“Wow,” said Fluttershy. “I mean— that _does_ sound romantic. I’m so happy for you, Sweetie.”

“Well thanks, but…” Sweetie Belle looked down to the floor. “I still don’t know where to go from here. Should I let Spike know that I have a crush on him? I’m just, really scared that if I tell him, he won’t like me back and it’ll ruin our friendship. I’ve seen other ponies find their special somepony before, and it makes me really happy when they do, but I don’t feel like I’m ready to find one myself. Fluttershy, what should I do?” Her eyes were starting to water.

"I’m not really sure." The timid mare began blushing a little. "I've never really had that special somepony for myself.”

Sweetie blinked in shock. “Wait, you’ve never— “

“Hmm... I would probably send her— I mean, him some flowers, though."

"Flowers? You mean, like _he_ gave me?”

"Mm-hmm. You can get a nice big bouquet of flowers, the same kind Spike gave you, and then send them to Twilight and Spike’s house anonymously! Or, well, I guess you could sign your name if you'd like. I wouldn't, though. I'd be way too scared to let somepony know how I really feel. Because what if they don't feel the same way? What if they're not into that sort of thing? What if— what if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore?"

"Um, Fluttershy?" Sweetie interjected. “I don’t think sending Spike flowers sounds like the best idea. That seems too obvious."

"Well, I don’t know if I can think of anything else. Hmm, maybe all he really needs is a nice big hug!"

"...That's it? Just a hug? Got anything better than that?”

"I’m sorry," Fluttershy replied. "I wish I could help more. I just don't really know that much about love. The only love I’ve ever had is love for all the little animals and creatures out there."

Sweetie Belle sighed heavily, resigned herself to the fact that she probably wasn’t going to get any further answers and proceeded to the door. "That's okay. Thanks anyway, Fluttershy."

"No problem," she responded. "I was glad to help, even if I wasn't much of a help. Good luck, Sweetie Belle!"

"Thanks for the tea." She closed the door behind her with her tail.

"Oh, Fluttershy,” she scolded herself. “You really need to stop rambling so much. After all, you can’t even help _yourself_."

She sadly glanced at a particular photo on her wall, an aching feeling in her heart.


	4. Of Good Friends

_I still don’t know what to do. I guess… I guess I want Spike to know how I feel. I kind of feel guilty keeping this secret. But… do I want to risk it? Is a pony-dragon couple completely normal, like Fluttershy said? Well, Spike and I are too young to be a ‘couple’. But that’s another thing! Are we also too young? And if it turns out he doesn’t love me back, will he still want to be my friend? UGH! Why can’t my answer just fall out of the sky?_

"Look out below!”

Before Sweetie Belle had time to react, she was suddenly pounced to the ground by a familiar blue blur.

"Whoops. Sorry about that, squirt," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm trying to perfect my newest trick. Heh-heh, it’s… not working out too well."

"That's okay…" Sweetie replied as she continued walking, her head hanging low. Quick to shrug off her haphazard landing, Rainbow immediately began pondering on how to improve.

“Let's see, maybe if I angle the trajectory of my wings a little after the last loop-de-loop, I'll be able to make a much clearer landing when I finish off with the big tornado sweep. Yeah, that should do it!" She gave an apologetic smile to Sweetie Belle, only to see her walking off sadly into the distance. "Hey! Why so glum, kid?" she inquired, flying upside-down next to her.

"I’m not ‘glum’, whatever that means," answered Sweetie. “I’m peachy.”

"Aw, come on!" Rainbow twisted herself back right-side up. "I know a sad face when I see one, and that right there is a sad face! Something buggin' ya?"

Sweetie responded with a sigh. _What could it hurt?_ "Well, Rainbow Dash, have you— have you ever had a very special somepony?" The weather pegasus flew up a few inches with a stunned expression on her face.

"Well, I... uh, of course I have! Yeah!"

"You have?" Sweetie Belle asked. She inched closer to Rainbow. "Well, how did you let them know that you wanted them to be your special somepony? Or did they want _you_ to be _theirs_?"

"Huh? Oh, um, I... Ohhhh, I see what's going on here! Little Miss Sweetie Belle's got her eye on somepony, doesn't she?"

Sweetie Belle drew back. "What gave it away?"

"Ha ha! Let me guess, you can't figure out what to say to him, can you?" Rainbow asked, floating back down. Sweetie nodded. "Well, walking around looking all shy and gloomy isn't gonna help! You just gotta be yourself. Walk right up to him and say, 'I love you!' And hey, who knows? Maybe he feels the same way about you!"

"But what if he doesn't?" Sweetie exclaimed. "What if he _doesn't_ feel the same way? What if he totally freaks out and doesn't want to be my friend anymore?"

_Darn it, why does she have to make this so hard? What do I say now?_ "Well.., you know what? Even if he doesn't feel the same way, I'm sure you guys could still be great friends!”

“Really? Are you sure that—”

“Yes, I'm sure about it! Uh... well, look at the time! I've gotta go!" The rainbow-haired pony immediately sped off, looking quite afraid of something.

"Now I’m even more ‘not sure’ than I was before,” she stated, followed with an annoyed grunt.

Rainbow watched from the branches of the tree above. She sighed in relief, but then tore her gaze away, scrunching her eyes and trying to bring herself not to look at the retreating filly.

“You know, Rainbow…” She hit her head on a branch in recoil. Fluttershy had flown up from behind her. “I still don’t think anypony would think anything bad about you if you told them you’ve never had a special somepony.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” replied Rainbow. “I don’t care what anypony else thinks of me.”

“Then, why do you want to keep it a secret?”

“Because…” She turned her head away from Fluttershy. “I don’t like to be _reminded_ that I’ve never had someone special.”

* * *

Spike paced back and forth around the bedroom, his eyes to the floor as if scanning for dirt. Something was bothering him. …But what?

Around him were several suitcases, all packed with various objects and clothing. However, there was one item that wasn’t packed. The large, shining ocean sapphire Sweetie Belle had given him earlier. Spike had precariously perched it on a high shelf (with Twilight’s help, of course). He initially wanted to eat it, but for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to do that.

Spike looked up at it. He wasn’t sure why, but whenever he looked at it, he just felt even more depressed.

_I don’t get it. What’s wrong? I feel like I’m— like I’m missing something. I’ve had a great past few days, nothing bad has happened. So, why do I feel upset? Hmm… maybe drawing a picture of Rarity would help. That usually makes me feel happy!_

Excitedly, he ran to his table to draw a picture. But when he opened the shelf, none of his drawing materials were there.

“Oops. I must’ve packed them already.” He reached into the suitcase and pulled out a sheet of paper and his crayons. “There we go! Ahh… Rarity, my sweet,” he mused to himself as he started drawing. As he did so however, he eventually noticed a blue light being cast down onto the paper.

“Huh?”

Looking up, he almost wanted to cover his eyes with his arm from the brightness. Celestia’s sun was just in the right angle that the light penetrated through Sweetie’s sapphire.

Among other things, Spike had the chance to finally notice just how much it gleamed and sparkled in the bright light.

“Wow…” he said quietly, still drawing his picture. “That’s just beautiful. A sweet and beautiful gem… just like my sweet Rarity.” A smile escaped his lips as he gazed upon it. However, that smile left as soon as he looked back down to his paper, and was replaced by an expression of pure shock.

He had just drawn a picture of Sweetie Belle.

* * *

_Maybe I_ should _just ask Rarity for help_ , Sweetie pondered, walking through the Ponyville market. _No, I can't do that! I saw what’s in those romantic books she has! She'll dress me all up in a frilly new dress and put me and Spike on a romantic cruise or something! Who else can I talk to? Who else around here is good at keeping secrets?_

But inspiration struck when she spotted a familiar confectionary shop in the distance. "Wait, of course! A pony that can keep a secret, no matter what! That's it!"

Inside Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was busy frosting some cupcakes in a box, almost ready to deliver an order to a customer. She was humming a soft tune to herself, probably another song that she was going to burst out singing when the opportunity arrived, until she heard the bell ring.

"Oh, hi Sweetie Belle!" she exclaimed.

"Hi, Pinkie," Sweetie replied, walking up to the counter. Pinkie Pie brushed the cupcakes to the side.

"So what brings you here today? Need some treats? Or a party?"

"No thanks," she replied. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?"

_There’s no way I’m going to tell her this in front of all these customers._ "Is there somewhere else we can talk? It's a secret.”

"Ohhhh, okay. Don’t worry your little horn, Sweetie Belle. I know all about secrets and how secretly secretive they are. Come with me," Pinkie whispered as she grabbed Sweetie and hoisted her upstairs.

A lone customer walked up to the counter. “Hello? Is my order ready yet? Um… hello?”

* * *

"There we go! Everything’s better with party hats! So, _now_ what'd you want to talk about?"

Sweetie gulped. _It’s now or never. I have to tell her._ "Well, I—"

"No no, wait! I wanna see if I can _guess_ what you’re going to say!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Did you want to throw a party?"

"No," Sweetie answered. "Please, I just want to—"

"Or maybe you wanted to throw a party for somepony else!"

"Isn't that the same thing?" she replied with an annoyed expression. She started to pull on her face in frustration. "Listen Pinkie, I really don't think you're gonna—"

"Ooh! Ooh! Did you want a makeover? No, that's silly! You'd go back home with Rarity if you wanted to have a makeover! Duh! Oh wait, I know! You want to have a sleepover! No, that can’t be right; you didn't bring any pillows or anything! Do you want me to help you and your friends do something for a Cutie Mark? Are you taking a survey? Do you want to hear a story? How about—"

"PINKIE, I HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE!" Sweetie yelled at the top of her lungs. She then quickly covered her mouth in shock. Pinkie gasped, but then she embraced the young lover in a hug.

"Oh my gosh, Sweetie Belle, that's so great! You have your very own special somepony! I just can't believe it! Now you and your lucky guy can hook up and be little boyfriend and little girlfriend and be happy together forever! So, who is it? Is it somepony I know? It’s not that kid in your class with the _weird_ glare, is it? Because he kinda creeps me out sometimes!"

Sweetie covered the talkative pony’s mouth, but she continued speaking anyway until Sweetie cast a serious glare.

"Swear you won't tell anypony," said Sweetie.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie stated, repeating her famous swear.

Sweetie glanced around, still paranoid about not wanting anyone else to know, and then whispered in her ear, "It's Spike."

"Spike?" Pinkie exclaimed, jumping out of her young friend’s grasp. Sweetie shushed her, but the Element of Laughter just started laughing. "Wow, that's so funny!"

"Funny? Why is that so funny?" Sweetie asked.

"It's funny because Spike already has a crush on Rarity, and now you have a crush on Spike, so it's all like a funny little triangle of—” But then she gasped. “Wait, no! I can’t! I promised!”

"Wait, w-what did you just say?" Sweetie asked with a horrified expression.

"NOTHING! I said nothing! Spike trusted me with his secret, and I'm not going to blab it out to anypony! No way, no how! ...But I just did, didn't I?"

“Spike has a crush on— on _Rarity_? My sister Rarity?"

Pinkie sadly nodded.

_I can’t believe it. Spike trusted me. He trusted me. What kind of a friend am I?_

"I don’t believe it..." Tears started welling up in her eyes. Sweetie Belle got off her seat and walked out.

"Sweetie Belle, wait!" But she didn't wait. She kept running and even ran past Scootaloo and Apple Bloom as they were walking into the shop.

“Huh?” said Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom looked back. “Was that Sweetie Belle? What happened to her?”

Pinkie ran to the door and watched helplessly as the filly whom had trusted her with her heart ran as fast as she could from the store, crying all the while. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ran out after her.

_Oh, no! Now look what you've done, Pinkie Pie! Not only did you break your promise to Spike, but now Sweetie Belle is all saddy-waddy! You broke two hearts in one day!_

"I have to fix this! I owe it to myself, and to Spike, and Sweetie Belle!" She thought for a little bit, before gasping and clenching her hooves together. "I know just what to do!"

* * *

"Thank you ever so much for being with me at the spa and helping me shop today, Fluttershy. You truly are the most wonderful, all around best friend a pony could ever ask for," said Rarity. The sun was setting and they were nearing Rarity’s home, with several bags of fashion items in hoof.

"No problem Rarity," Fluttershy replied, smiling softly and even blushing a little. "I'm always happy to lend a helping hoof to a very good friend."

"Hmm. Still locked. I suppose Sweetie Belle must still be out with her little circle of friends,” said Rarity. “It's getting awfully late though, and I still need to have a few words with her."

Upon hearing Sweetie Belle's name, Fluttershy became reminded of Sweetie's dilemma, and how little she had been able to help her with her love problem, and her smile vanished.

"Alright, and... there we go," Rarity said, unlocking the door. She turned to Fluttershy and immediately noticed how upset she looked. "Fluttershy darling, what's the matter?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

Rarity stepped forward. "Don't be so modest, dear. I can see that something's wrong. What is it? Tell me! TELL ME!"

"I— Well..." _How am I supposed to explain to her what happened without breaking my promise?_ "You see, earlier today, I was talking to a friend, and they, just had a really big problem, that's all. A love problem."

"A love problem?" Rarity repeated in concern. "Who is this pony? Do I know them?"

"I- I can't tell you."

Rarity was inches away from Fluttershy's face now. "Why not? This sounds like a really _huge_ problem, Fluttershy! If you tell me who it is, then maybe I can help them!"

"Oh, I really can't!" Fluttershy responded. Sweat began to trickle down her face. "I promised them I wouldn't! I— I have to go, Rarity! Bye!" She ran off in a panic.

"Why has everypony been running off lately?" She took a sniff at herself. "Is it the perfume?"

* * *

Nonetheless, she walked inside and flipped the lights on. As she set all her bags down on the table, she heard a banging noise. She looked up to see something was banging on the ceiling repeatedly from above. Opal, annoyed by this sound, covered her ears with a pillow.

"What in Equestria...?" Rarity headed upstairs, and saw that the door to her sister’s room was slightly ajar.

_What is that little filly doing? And if she's home already, then why'd she lock the front door?_ She was about to swing the door open.

"UHHH! I'm such an idiot!"

Upon hearing this sudden outburst, Rarity instead gently opened the door a crack and peeked inside to bear witness to the unfolding drama. Sweetie Belle was stamping down on her bedroom floor in frustration.

"How could I be so stupid? I knew I was just wasting my time!" Having physically exerted her anger, she buried her face in her pillows. "I can't believe I went through all that trouble, trying to figure out what to do about being in love with Spike, when it turns out _he_ has a crush on Rarity! It's hopeless!" She slammed her hoof down. "Just forget it! I should've never even bothered in the first place. I’m too young to have a special somepony anyway."

After a few seconds, she wrapped the blanket over herself. Tears were dripping down her older sister’s face.

_Sweetie Belle…_


	5. Twilight's Visit

_It’s too late. I didn’t make it in time. I wasn’t there for her. I didn’t help her when I had the chance. I couldn’t save her from the heartbreak. I wasn’t assertive enough. … I’ve failed._

These thoughts all stung in Rarity’s head as she leaned over her three-mirror platform, sobbing profusely.

Fighting the tears, she bristled her hoof across the purple flowers on the table, the same flowers that she had gazed upon after an argument she had with Sweetie Belle about not wanting to attend the Sisterhooves Social.

“I should’ve talked to her as soon as I had the chance,” she lamented out loud. “I could’ve stopped this from happening. If I had just stepped in earlier! Hmm… that is most interesting though, that she was in love with Spike all along.”

After thinking about it for a moment however, she put her hoof to her forehead. “Oh, listen to yourself, Rarity! Of _course_ she was in love with Spike the whole time! How could I have been so blind? Here, I thought that _huge_ hunk of a sapphire was just a token of her friendship, when she had just had a conversation with me about a pony who has feelings for their companion! And now it’s all fallen apart! She must have tried to confide in other ponies! That’s how she found that Spike already had his hear on…”

But then the realization stopped her monologue cold.

_…on me? Wait a second. Spike has a crush on… me? Is that— is that really true? I guess I never thought about it… Well, now that I am, that would certainly make a lot of sense. He’s always been so unusually kind and generous to me, offering his assistance constantly…_  
  
“Hang on, that isn’t necessarily an indication of infatuation. That’s just Spike being a good friend. Perhaps Sweetie observed all that and got the wrong idea…” She stood up. “Maybe I should go up and explain the confusion to her. Spike’s merely just being a very generous friend, is all. It’s not like he’s ever… actually… said—”

But before she could finish that sentence, her mind flashed back to that faithful day. The day before Spike’s birthday.

* * *

“Gosh, you really like it, huh?”

“Like it?” replied Rarity, eyeing Spike’s gleaming heart-shaped fire ruby. “It’s magnificent.”

“Then… you should have it,” said Spike. And much to Rarity’s surprise, he handed the ruby directly to her. “This beautiful gem was meant to be with you.”

“I don’t know what to say,” said Rarity, her eyes gleaming. Spike made a bashful cringe as she circled around him in her excitement. “This is so thoughtful. Oh, my little Spikey Wikey!”

She then planted a kiss on Spike’s cheek, and his whole body shook up like a plank.

_That’s right… the gem that he gave me. That selfless, generous act. I hadn’t even given much thought about what he had done until... until it saved him from himself._

* * *

“Oh, what now? I suppose you’ll be eating me or something!”

The rampaging Spike’s feelings were in flux as he remembered that tender moment with Rarity. And before her eyes, he shrunk back into his small stature.

“Spike? _You’re_ the rampaging dragon?” As they both plummeted down, Spike decided to take his chance.

“Rarity, I need to tell you something, just in case we don’t make it! I’ve always sort of had a crush—”

But before he could finish that thought, Rarity covered his lips, tears welling in her eyes. Spike smiled in reply.

_The confession he made… I remember now. I merely dismissed it as a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ confession, a rubbish thought that just popped into his head while he was descending, and I stopped him because I didn’t want him to embarrass himself with such a silly exclamation._   
  
_That confession… was genuine? Spikey Wikey… really does love me?_

* * *

“Spike… how could I have not seen it before?” Rarity’s tears were starting to drip onto the table now as they completely streamed down her face. “Oh, what is wrong with me? How could I have not seen such _obvious_ expressions of love? There’s been a triangle right in front of my eyes this whole time! Sweetie’s in love with Spike, and Spike’s in love with me, and…”

She stopped cold. Another realization hit her.

“…and, just who am _I_ in love with with?”

As this particular thought ran through her head, there was suddenly a knock at the door.

_What? A visitor? Who could it be at this hour?_

The knock persisted.

“I-I’m coming, I’m coming!”

* * *

“Oh, hello Twilight!” said Rarity, opening the door to see Twilight’s smiling face. “What brings you here at this hour? My, what a _lovely_ headpiece you’re wearing! That would be the hat that Pinkie gave you on your last birthday, is it not?”

“Thanks, Rarity! And yes it is,” said Twilight, adjusting her large green sunhat, adorned with a bright red rose. “I’m really sorry for stopping by so late. It’s just that I’m visiting each of my friends’ houses to let you all know that Spike and I are going to be away at Canterlot for a few days.”

“You are?” Rarity replied, with an astonished expression. “What’s the occasion?”

“Princess Celestia invited me. My parents are going to be in town, and she thought it would be great if I came up to Canterlot to see them. It’s been so long since I last saw my parents, and I’m so excited to tell them about all my friends and all the lessons I’ve learned about friendship!”

“Well, that’s just wonderful, Twilight!” said Rarity. “Oh, you’re so lucky! I wish I could go to Canterlot as often as you and Spike do! The flair, the pizzazz, the enrichment! I am just _so_ envious that you and Spike get to see it all and…” But then she gasped. “Wait, no! You can’t do that! Err, I mean— you _can_ do that, but… NO! I— uhh!”

Twilight’s smile turned into a concerned frown. “Wh-what do you mean, Rarity? Why can’t we do _what_?”

_Twilight and SPIKE are going to be in Canterlot for a few days? That’s not good at all! How am I supposed to help my little sister with her unrequited crush when the crush in question is going to be on the other side of the mountain?_

“H-how long did you say you two were going to be in Canterlot, exactly?” asked Rarity, struggling to get her words out.

“Um… well, we’re going to leave tomorrow morning and be there for five days, and then take the train back to Ponyville on Saturday.”

“ _Five_ whole days?” exclaimed Rarity, leaning in close to Twilight’s face. “Does Spike really have to be away for that long? I, uh— I might need his help!”

“Help? Help with what?”

“Um… uh… I— have a few orders to fill for some esteemed clients in… Manehattan, yes! I have over twenty dresses to make, and they all require quite the sizable abundance of gems. I mean, typically I could just search for the gems to make them on my own, but we’re talking twenty dresses here, Twilight!”

She started shaking Twilight’s shoulders, making her dizzy. “TWENTY dresses! There’s just simply no way I’ll be able to finish them in time without little Spikey’s help!”

“Well… I don’t know, Rarity,” said Twilight. “I’ve never left Spike all by himself in Ponyville for more than a day. I’m not sure if I can trust him with that big responsibility of handling the whole library himself without any assistance for five days.”

“And besides, he was really excited about going to Canterlot and catching up with some of our old friends.” She looked up the clouds. “It’s almost like it’s all he could think about since we first got the letter. I mean, you should just see how quickly he packed all his things! I’m sorry Rarity, it’s just…” She put her hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “He’d probably be really disappointed if he had to stay here, even if it was to help you.”

“Right… regardless of the fact that he apparently fancies me,” Rarity muttered.

“What was that?”

“Um, I-I said, Canterlot must be a _very_ fancy place to visit, then. Heh-heh,” she replied sheepishly.

“Well, if it’s that important to you, Rarity, hmm, let me think…” She put a hoof to her chin and patted it a few times, deep in thought.

“You know… I guess what I could do is just have Spike with me the first three days, and then let him take the train back to Ponyville and spend the rest of the week taking care of the library. I’m just… not sure if he’s responsible enough to be left alone for that long.”

“Oh, but he won’t be alone!” replied Rarity. “As I said, I might be needing his help quite a bit while he’s here, and…” And then, she flashed a wide smile. She just came up with a brilliant idea. “And besides, when he is home all by himself, I’ll have Sweetie Belle stop by occasionally to check on him!”

“Huh,” said Twilight, pondering this over. “That does make me feel a little better about it. You know what, Rarity? I’ll talk to Spike on the way there and see what he thinks. I’ll be sure to send you a letter letting you know.”

“Oh, thanks, Twilight. You don’t know _how_ much this would mean to Swee— I mean, me.”

“Hey, speaking of which, how has been Sweetie been lately?” asked Twilight. “Has she adjusted well to living with you? I know things got a little shaky when your parents moved to Fillydelphia. But she’s fun to have around now, right?”

“Oh, she is indeed! She and I have been doing so many wonderful things together! I feel like we’ve become even closer as sisters than ever before.” _Even though right now, I feel like the_ worst _sister ever._

“That’s just awesome, Rarity,” said Twilight. “It’s kind of a shame that your father had to take that job offer, though. Has anypony ever told you that your mother makes the _best_ cheese sandwiches and omelets?”

“You… don’t say,” said Rarity, giving her best fake smile. _Why is everypony always so ecstatic about my mother’s cooking? It never tasted all that good to me._ “Well, I suppose it's all for the best. Maybe now, my father will become the greatest college hoofball coach this side of Equestria.”

“Yeah, maybe. Well, I need to get going. I’ll have to tell everypony else about this… new change of plans.”

“Well then, it was nice seeing you, Twilight. Ta-ta!” As Rarity started to close the door, she spotted Twilight pull out her checklist and start writing things down.

“Let’s see, now I’m going to have to go back to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s homes to let them know about this change in plans. I hope Pinkie Pie is actually home now so I can tell her what’s going on, and I still need to Applejack, Cheerilee, and Roseluck…”

Rarity rolled her eyes and shut the door. _Typical Twilight._

* * *

“Sweetie Belle? Can we please talk?”

Rarity headed up the stairs again after Twilight went on her way. But this time, she wasn’t coming to reprimand her younger sister for the noise she was making in her room.

It was finally time to have that talk.

Nudging the door open a crack, Rarity peered into the filly’s bedroom.

“Sweetie?”

She was met with the sight of her sister’s face still buried in the pillows. Now, they were accompanied by a soft, muffled snoring.

Rarity emitted a sad sigh. _Looks like I’ve missed my chance yet again. Oh, well._ She began to slowly close the door.

“Good night, little Sweetums. You are growing up so fast…”


	6. No More

Rarity was hard at work the next morning. Her sewing glasses were on and she was busy sewing away at a new gray-colored garment. Next to her lay a couple of finished dresses.

“Whoo,” sighed Rarity, swabbing some sweat from her forehead. “Having twenty dresses spread out over the week is actually sounding fairly desirable right now. Still, this is the stress that comes with the job. The only way I’m going to make this an enjoyable experience is by putting all my passion into this task.”

“Still, I really _would_ like to know why Tonia Spoonsworth needs a dozen dresses from my newest line by the end of the day, and on such short notice. These will likely take me the whole day to complete. Now to add a pocket-stitch here...” She fumbled around in her fabric drawers, but was dismayed when she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

“Oops, out of red fabric,” said Rarity with drooping lips. “Guess I’ll have to get some more from the store later.” She took this moment to observe the clock behind her. It was nearing 11:00. “Hmm, Sweetie Belle hasn’t come down yet. I wonder if she overslept again?”

Rarity pondered to herself, still gazing at the clock. “Well… this is probably the only break I’m going to have while Sweetie is still home. Now’s probably a good time as any to finally have that talk… and I have just the thing for it!” She began walking down her hallway, flashing a very wide grin as an ingenious idea ran through her noggin.

“All she needs is a stronger push in her aesthetics, a bit of eye candy as it were. If she applies herself to the same degree as I once Spike returns from Canterlot on Thursday, he will undoubtedly notice her and bring his heart from me to her! This plan is genius! Too bad he won’t be back in Ponyville in time for Hearts and Hooves Day, though…”

She carefully opened a door tucked in the very back of the boutique. “And I’ve made the perfect dress, just waiting for this day! The day when Sweetie Ophelia Belle finally found her soul mate, and required the help of her big sister to charm his ultimate desires and win him over! And it all starts with the masterpiece crafted by moi!” she exclaimed, patting her mane. “The cutest and most exquisite dress in all of—”

But she stopped talking when she opened up a tall white cabinet and saw only a single clothes hanger dangling from the rack.

“…Where is the dress?”

* * *

_I just can’t believe she actually had this awesome dress that just happens to be fit me perfectly!_

Inside her room, Sweetie Belle stood high upon a stool, powdering her face. Her hair was done up in multiple beads and she had even put on purple eyeshadow, that she… “borrowed” from Rarity.

However, the real highlight of Sweetie’s appearance was the dress she wore, also “borrowed” from her sister. Its main color was a deep navy blue, while the band that ran around the middle was a lighter shade of blue. A lacy white frill draped over the back of the dress, while the torso was covered in sequins. The very bottom showed off a row of light blue diamonds that looked similar to the ones on Rarity’s Cutie Mark, and smaller diamonds also graced the band and upper straps. They were cast perfectly so that the dress cast a gleam from any angle.

_And not only did I find a dress that fits me just right, but Rarity’s been showing me how to put on makeup and make my hair all nice and stuff!_

Smiling at the lipstick tube with glee, she decided to use her magic to try to levitate it over to herself. Squinting her eyes shut, she focused all her effort into her horn, pointing it directly at the tube and concentrating as hard as she could.

A magic glow surrounded the tube, and it even levitated a millimeter or two above the table. However, the strain was too much and she quickly gave out, dropping the lipstick tube back onto the table. With a disappointed sigh, she glumly picked the tube up manually and spent a minute applying the cherry red cosmetic over herself.

“This will be perfect!” she exclaimed, reveling in the genius of her plan. “Spike has a crush on Rarity. So all I gotta do is make myself look really nice like Rarity always does, and then go to the library… hope that Twilight isn’t there, and then ‘butter him up’, like my sister’s romantic books say! Sweet-talking him and stuff.”

She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a string of mistletoe. “And then, I’ll hang the mistletoe above him while he’s not looking, and… and kiss him.” Just thinking about it made her blush a little, and she began rubbing her hooves together in nervousness.

“…Yeah. A-and then, he’ll be… what’s that word the books used again? ‘Swooned’? Yeah, he’ll be swooned and he’ll be in love with me instead of Rarity, and I’ll finally have him as my very special somepony— err, special some _dragon_ I guess, just in time for Hearts and Hooves Day!”

She made a huge leap of excitement, but was shaken solid when a knock sounded at the door.

“Sweetie Belle? Are you awake?”

Sweetie looked at her ensemble frantically. _I can’t let Rarity see me like this!_ “Um… yeah, just a second!” She pulled off the dress and quickly stuffed it into her saddlebag. “Hang on!”

Rarity waited patiently at the door for a minute, before Sweetie finally opened the door for her. She kept her back to Rarity and had tied a sheet of brown cloth around her face to conceal her prettied-up mane and face.

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle. I was just hoping that I could get a chance to— Oh!” she said, noticing Sweetie’s saddlebags. “Were you… getting ready to go someplace?”

“Yeah, um… the Crusaders! I’m supposed to meet the Crusaders today so we can try to find ways to earn our Cutie Marks!” said Sweetie, starting to sweat nervously. _I gotta get out of here; all this sweating is going to ruin my makeup._ “And I _really_ need to get going now. See ya, sis! Sorry I didn’t come down for breakfast!”

She began to back out from the room, still keeping her face turned away from Rarity. Rarity’s face was one of confusion and anxiety. “Oh but, are you absolutely certain that you must leave _now_? I really wanted to have an important talk with you and, and… why are you wearing that brown fabric over your head?”

“Because we’re, uh… monks! Yeah, that’s it! We’re going to try and see if our special talent is being monks! Yeah…” She looked around nervously before turning around and trying to leave as quickly as she could. “Sorry, sis! I guess that talk will have to wait later! I need to leave now or else they’ll both be really mad at me again!”

“Sweetie Belle, wait!” Rarity called. But the sound of the door closing confirmed that she had fallen on deaf ears, and Rarity responded with a grunt of frustration and a stamp on the ground. “Why does she have to keep making this so difficult?”

But as she calmed down, her anger shifted into regret. “Better yet… why didn’t _I_ take the chance to talk to her _sooner_?”

* * *

As Sweetie Belle cautiously exited the house, she accidentally bumped into Scootaloo, knocking off the brown fabric around her head.

“Oof!” They both cried, tumbling to the ground.

Apple Bloom stood behind them. “Sweetie Belle!”

“Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle anxiously blurted, helping Scootaloo up.

“Ugh… it’s okay,” said Scootaloo, dusting off her mane. “We were just about to come in and check up on you.”

“Yeah. How are ya feeling? And whatcha got in that bag?”

Sweetie began to sweat again. She picked up the cloth and tried to pat off some of the sweat without disturbing her makeup. “Um, well… it’s, I-I had some ideas for our…”

But she was interrupted by Scootaloo. “Whoa. And what’s with the fancy mane and makeup?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Sweetie clenched her teeth, feeling cornered by their questions. They both looked perplexedly at her and she was getting so nervous that her hooves were trembling again.

_Why do I keep feeling trapped every time someone is asking me stuff? When will all of this stop so I can just go back to the way things used to be?_

“Oh, um… my sister was giving me some more beauty lessons this morning! She was helping me do my hair and teaching how to put on eyeshadow…”

“Ohhhhhhh!” Sweetie gave a small phew after they both seemed to buy her story. _Glad that worked._

“Wow, that’s really cool. Sweetie Belle!” said Apple Bloom. Scootaloo just rolled her eyes, and this made Sweetie giggle a little. _She probably still doesn’t get why a pony needs to worry about their looks. At least she isn’t complaining out loud like the times when Rarity and I have_ actually _had beauty sessions. Maybe now I can just leave without there being any more—_

“So, are you ready to go crusading today?” Apple Bloom cheerfully asked. Sweetie winced as soon as she said that.

“I-I’m sorry, girls, I’d really love to,” she replied, already starting to walk away. “But I need to go do something else with… another drago— I mean, another pony, at um… another place. But maybe I’ll see you later! Bye!” she called.

“Huh?” they both said in unison. They exchanged confused glances at each other, and continued those glances as they watched their fellow Crusader approach Roseluck’s flower stand.

* * *

“Wow, really? Two whole days all by myself in Ponyville? Of course I’ll accept that! That sounds awesome!”

The Ponyville train to Canterlot was emerging from a tunnel as it rolled down the track through the mountains, on its way to the capitol city of Equestria. Inside one of the passenger cars sat Twilight and Spike, sitting across from each other on their own individual beds.

“Are you sure now, Spike?” said Twilight with a nonplussed face. “You sounded so excited about spending the whole week at Canterlot. I was actually expecting you to be a little disappointed about this request.”

“Oh come on, Twilight,” said Spike, resting his head on his arms. “That’s because I’m _always_ excited to go to Canterlot. But I get to go there on royal business all the time. That would actually be kind of cool to stay behind in Ponyville for once while you’re up in Canterlot.”

“Well, this was much easier than I thought. I’m glad you’re up to it, Spike.”

“And besides,” Spike mused. “With you and your parents just sitting around talking for hours, I’ll probably be bored out of my mind anyway.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” she replied, lowering her eyebrows. “Don’t forget, you’re still going to be with _me_ for the first three days, so you’re going to have to meet them eventually, whether you like it or not, especially since they sounded so excited to finally get the chance to meet you in person.”

Spike responded by scoffing his hand in the air. “Ehh. It’ll be worth it, if I get to spend two whole days being Rarity’s assistant.” He lovingly sighed to himself, about to get lost in yet another daydream about that lovely Rarity. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.

_Some things just never change…_

* * *

Some time later, everything was quiet and peaceful on the Express. The train was circling around another mountain, and Twilight and Spike were both pleasantly napping. Or at least, they _were_ , until…

“YAAAAHHHH!”

Spike immediately sprung up in bed, but upon seeing Twilight asleep across from him, he covered his mouth.

_Uh, oh. I hope I didn’t wake her._ Twilight stirred a little and made a noise, but then she simply turned over to the other side. Spike flicked his forehead in relief, but then he felt troubled.

_What the heck? That was a _really_ weird dream. I was fighting the Japonyse Samurais while they were holding Rarity captive. But then when I looked back at her, she had become Sweetie Belle. And when I looked away again, there was Rarity._

_And every time I looked back again, she was either Rarity, or Sweetie Belle. And finally, I vanquished those mean old samurais and went to go kiss Rarity... and there she was again._   
  
_I don’t get it. Why do my dreams about Rarity keep turning into dreams about Sweetie Belle? I used to dream about Rarity all the time, the pony whom I love. So why is Sweetie Belle suddenly in my dreams? How does—_   
  
_Oh, no. Oh no. I can’t be… OH, NO._

Frantically, Spike grabbed his knapsack from the bagging shelf above and pulled out two drawings from it.

“You gotta be kidding me. I can’t be!”

The first drawing was a simple sketch of Rarity he had made the other day after he came home from the Boutique. But the other drawing was the one he had accidentally made the other day… of Sweetie Belle.

He held that drawing in his right claw and the drawing of Rarity in his left. His eyes darted between the two as all the clues finally began to click together.

_Am I— Am I in love with Rarity… AND Sweetie Belle?_

* * *

Back in Ponyville, a certain little filly was proudly trotting down the road to Twilight’s library. She was wearing the studded blue dress again, and now she was also clutching a bouquet of blue roses in her mouth. A tag attached to them read in neat cursive writing, “For Spike.”

_Alright… let’s do this!_

As Sweetie Belle approached the library, she stopped in front of the orange sign outside the abode to check her appearance.

_Shoot, I didn’t bring a mirror. I hope all that sweating didn’t ruin the makeup too badly. Let’s see… hair’s still perfect, dress isn’t dirty, eyelashes are still plucked…_ She lightly tapped her lip with her hoof. _…lipstick hasn’t worn off, and… still got the mistletoe. Great!_ And so she triumphantly started walking towards the front door, though she wasn’t feeling as triumphant in her mind.

_Okay… here we go. Just going to start talking to Spike, butter him up just like the books said, hang up the mistletoe, kiss him…_ She gulped. _…and then, he’ll be in love with you instead of Rarity. Simple! Oh please don’t be home Twilight, please don’t be home Twilight, please don’t be Twilight…_

But once she got to the door, she noticed a note taped to the door. “Huh? What’s this?”

“ _Gone to Canterlot on a royal visit until Saturday._  
 _Sorry for any inconveniences._  
  
 _\- Twilight Sparkle_ ”

Sweetie exerted a happy gasp. “Oh, wow! How lucky is that? Twilight’s gone for the whole week! Not only can I make Spike my very special somepony _today_ , but I could spend the whole week with him, just the two of us! This day’s turning out AMAZING!”

Pushing the door open, she peered around the empty library. “Hey, Spike! Are you here? …Spike? Hello?” Stepping fully into the house, she looked all around, not particularly noticing that several books were missing from their shelves. “Spike? Hello? Is anypony in here?”

_Hmm, I guess he isn’t home right now. … Or maybe he’s up in his room and didn’t hear me come in. I’d better go check just to be sure._

* * *

She hurried up the stairs and knocked on the door to Twilight and Spike’s room. “Hello! Spike! Are you in there?” After not getting a reply, she carefully nudged the door open, only to find the room seemingly empty. Upon walking into the room, Sweetie immediately had to shield her eyes from the sudden blue gleam of light.

“Oww! What the— Huh?” She looked up as best as she could to see that the shine was being cast by the giant gemstone, still perched on the high shelf.

_Hey, there’s the sapphire that I gave Spike! But… why did he put it all the way up there? It’s kind of hurting my neck to look at it. UHH! And my eyes!_

“Hoot!”

“Huh?” She turned to her left, where she saw Twilight’s pet owl holding a feather-duster with his talons. “Oh, hi Owloysius! Just cleaning up around here?”

“Hoo, hoot!”

“Huh? Well _you_ of course, silly!”

“Hoot?”

“What? I— Uh, never mind. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know where Spike is, would you?”

Owloysius nodded. “Hoot, hoot!” He flew out of the room and then eventually returned with Twilight’s note that Sweetie had seen on the front door. He pointed to it with his wing.

“Wait… are you trying to tell me that… Spike went _with_ Twilight to Canterlot?”

He nodded again. “Hooooot.”

“…Oh.” Her ears drooped and she kicked the floor. “Well, _that_ wasn’t in the note. Spike’s gonna be… gone for the _whole_ week, including Hearts and Hooves Day? … Darn it.”

“Hoot?” uttered Owloysius, pointing to her mane and dress.

“Huh?” she replied. “Oh… all this? It’s just for— well… I guess it’s just for _nothing_ now.” _Yeah. I snuck this dress into my room without Rarity noticing me, and then spent a whole hour making myself all pretty… for nothing._

“I’d better go home and wash all this makeup off…” She turned to leave, but right before she walked out, she looked to her left again and noticed something.

“Huh. Spike left one of the drawers open.”

“Hoot!”

“Don’t worry,” she said to Owloysius. “I’ll go close it.” She walked over to the drawer to close it. But once she got there, she was stunned.

Inside the open drawer were a large pile of Spike’s drawings, and most of them… depicted Rarity. Her eyes became increasingly wider as she laid them out on the table to get a better look.

Some showed them dancing together, and some were candid sketches Spike must’ve made of her simply sewing dresses. She even found one of Spike _proposing_ to her with a large diamond ring. Perhaps incidentally, a green prism-shaped emerald also lay in the drawer.

Sweetie’s heart started beating faster the more she gazed at all of the drawings. It was all increasingly becoming too much to handle, because all the pieces were finally coming together in her head all at once of just _how much_ Spike was infatuated with her older sister.

_It’s like an obsession. He’s totally obsessed with her. That’s why he has all these drawings. That’s why he’s always been coming to our house to assist her! That’s why he always follows her around everywhere when he’s not with Twilight! That’s why he hasn’t noticed me! Because he can’t ever love ANYPONY ELSE BUT MY SIS!_

The makeup began to drip onto the drawings, as sweat and tears melted down the filly’s face, a wet blend of black and pink rolling over her cheeks. Panicking, Sweetie desperately looked for a way to exert this sudden rush of emotions. Her heart felt like it was beating at a thousand times a minute.

And then… she finally snapped.

* * *

“THAT’S IT!”

The quietness outside the library was suddenly disrupted as a bouquet of blue roses crashed through an upper window of Twilight’s library and crinkled onto the ground below.

Sweetie hustled out from the library as fast as she could and proceeded to violently stomp on the flowers in her anger, pressing her hooves deep into the decaying blue petals. She then picked up the crushed bouquet with her mouth and swiftly hoisted it against the library sign. A small flurry of ripped, wrinkled blue petals flittered in the air around the sign.

“I'm through now! Through with EVERYTHING! No more sweet-talking! No more flowers! No more reading Rarity's stupid romance books or trying to fancy a dragon up, or asking other ponies about _their_ special someponies! From now on, I'm just going to go back the way to the way things were! Everything’s just going to go back to normal, who no more love, no more crushes…"

She pulled off all the beads from her now raggedy mane and fiercely threw them all to the ground.

“And no… more… **SPIKE**!”


	7. Spike's Choice

"Sorry again about your studio, Miss Scratch. I guess our special talent isn’t being all loud with the recording equipment," said an apologetic Apple Bloom.

"Aww, it’s no sweat, girls," Vinyl Scratch reassured as she led the duo out of her studio. "Color me crazy, but… I didn’t think you were gonna cut it either. It’s not that you two don’t got talent, it’s just… it’s just…" she said, scratching her vibrant blue mane. “Y’know, I can’t really think of a good way to put this.”

“We _stink_. That’s how you can put it,” said Scootaloo. “Are you sure you’re not mad about your studio?”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” said Vinyl, glancing back at her mess of a studio inside. “Actually, it kinda looks like it does after I’ve had my awesome Saturday night JAM SESSIONS! …Well, minus the short-circuiting synthesizers.” A loud BZZT and CRACKLE sounded from inside. “And some of the shattered windows. … And the broken cello. Ooh, ‘Tavi’s gonna _kill_ me for that one…”

She turned back to the worried-looking girls again. “Don’t worry! I’ll have this all cleaned up in a jiff! Just go on and… do whatever it is you guys usually do around here.”

“Okay,” said Apple Bloom as they both started to walk off. “Bye, Miss Scratch!”

“See ya later!” called Scootaloo.

“Catch ya ‘round!” Vinyl called back, slipping on her tinted sunglasses. “Feel free to come back anytime. Just, please don’t crank anything up to 11 anymore…” And with that, she closed the door.

"Well, ya know what? Who would want a Cutie Mark in music anyway," Apple Bloom stated proudly. "Right, Scootaloo?”

“Yeah, sure,” replied Scootaloo. “Or at least a singing Cutie Mark. The more I think about it, a special talent in singing just sounds boring.”

* * *

A little while later, the two Crusaders laid down on a grassy field in the outskirts of Ponyville, watching the sky.

“I know! We could always try hang-gliding! Hang-gliding could be fun!” Apple Bloom suggested.

Scootaloo just shook her head. “No, we tried paragliding last week, and that’s pretty much the same thing.”

“Oh.”

“Got any ideas, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked, with a raised eyebrow, looking at the nothingness to her right. They sighed heavily. “Forget it. Maybe we should just do the construction idea.”

Just then, several bouquets of flowers landed in-between them, making them both sit up in surprise.

“Fear not, Crusaders! Because today’s the day that we’re going to get our Cutie Marks in making FLOWER-COPTERS!” The filly’s voice cracked on the last word, emitting a happy gasp from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

They turned around to see their fellow purple-maned Crusader, standing over them with a determined look on her face and a hoof raised proudly in the air.

“SWEETIE BELLE!”

* * *

Something about the Canterlot Sculpture Garden felt even creepier when no one else was around, Spike noticed. Just looking at some of the tall and intimidating statues of ponies both brave and fierce sent chills up his spines.

But he had still come here for a reason.

_Canterlot is such a big city. Ponies are busy on every street and in every place. And with Twilight and her parents still talking it up in our room, this garden is the only place where I can be alone… to think._

Looking to his right, he saw that they were _still_ hard at work rebuilding the palace labyrinth, which had been previously reduced to a rut by a certain malevolent spirit of chaos and disharmony.

The same malevolent spirit that now stood as the centerpiece of the Garden, frozen in a form of pure stone by the Elements of Harmony. His arms both jutted out and his head was twisted to the right, his face a permanent expression of pure shock and disbelief.

Discord’s statue loomed over Spike as he found a bench to sit on. Having found the perfect place to start contemplating, he pulled out two drawings. They were the same two drawings that helped Spike realize the nature of his feelings the night before.

_Rarity. … Sweetie Belle._  
  
 _How did this happen? I’ve had all my love going to Rarity ever since I first met her in Ponyville. But… I’ve never felt the same thing for Sweetie Belle. So why am I only_ now _starting to see her in a different way?_  
  
 _My dreams have always been about Rarity. But the dreams I’ve been having lately... both Rarity_ and _Sweetie Belle are in them. They’re both the ‘fair princess’ I’m trying to save. Especially… in last night’s dream._

* * *

A dark red teenage dragon is seen falling into a volcano, a pool of lava waiting for him down below.

“I’ll get you yet, Spike Wong!” he yelled as he descended.

“Ha! I’d like to see you try!” responded Spike, whom was now a much taller and slender dragon and bearing a black-belt karate uniform.

“AAH! Spike, help!” cried two ponies.

Upon hearing these two cries for help, Spike rushed to the volcano’s edge, but he was stunned at what he saw next.

At the edge of the volcanic cliff over the bubbling lava, there were not one but _two_ fair maidens clinging for their lives, both desperately looking at Spike to save them.

_Wha— But I can’t save_ both _of them!_

“Spike, hurry! Save me!” called Sweetie Belle.

“No, save _me_!” said Rarity. “I still have whole worlds to see with you, Spikey Wikey!”

“Hey, that’s not fair! You know I can’t swim, Rarity!”

“Oh, it’s completely fair, little sister,” said Rarity, sneering at her. “You’ll understand it better when you’re older.”

“But if I fall, then I’m never going to _be_ older!” Sweetie angrily responded. “And besides, Spike loves me more!”

“That is not true! He loved me first— WHOA, WHOA!”

They were both quickly losing their grip, and Spike had to act fast. He only had time to save one of them…

_But which one? How do I choose!?_

After a few seconds of panicked thinking, he closed his eyes and rushed out towards the cliff, and managed to grab one hoof. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw that he was grasping one white-colored hoof, whilst a loud scream sounded from below.

* * *

_Too bad Twilight had to wake me up before I could see who it was I saved in that dream._ He sighed. _Not like it would even matter._

Getting up off of the bench, he turned towards the statue of Discord, as if he was being magically drawn to it. He gazed up at the stone-encased Draconequus, and started scratching his head.

_What is this supposed to be a statue of, again? I feel like I’ve seen that creature somewhere before…_

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he asked the statue _. I can’t just keep thinking to myself, and who better to talk to than a statue? After all, it can’t answer me back._ “You see… I have a bit of a problem. The thing is, well… I have a crush on somepony. Actually, _two_ crushes.”

Discord didn’t respond.

“See, there’s this one pony, right? Her name’s Rarity.” He shivered up upon mentioning her name, as if a strange chill had just emitted from the statue. “And… I’ve loved her for a really long time. Ever since I first met her. But I think… I think I’m starting to have a crush on another pony. Now here’s the funny part…” He started to break into a chuckle. “Get ready for this one. The other pony… is her little sister!”

The statue still remained silent.

“So, the thing I want to know is… what should I do? Because I mean, I still love Rarity. But because Sweetie’s her sister and lives with her, I always see them both at the same place, and she likes to talk to me a lot too. It’s just… so hard for me to know what to do and— Aww, what am I doing? I’m talking to a statue. I bet you can’t even hear me.”

He scoffed at the statue and began to walk away, until suddenly…

**_Now what makes you think I can’t hear you?_ **

Spike’s eyes shot wide open.

**_You know, just because I’m a statue, that doesn’t mean I’m deaf, you naïve little dragon._ **

Spike looked in all directions, except behind him, his eyes still wide with shock. The voice sounded like an echo inside his head. _Who? But… It can’t be—_

**_That’s right; I’m talking to_ ** **you** **_, Spike._ **

_W-What? But how does—_

**_That is your name, isn’t it? Spike the little baby dragon. Twilight Sparkle’s faithful assistant. Oh, I know all about you, Spike. Ever-observant around the library, your eyes don’t miss anything under the right pressure. Well… except for some of the most obvious things right in front of you._ **

“Wh-what do you mean?” Spike asked the voice.

**_What do I mean? Well, you_ ** **did** **_come to ask me for advice about your decision, but… I’m not sure whether I should tell you, and spoil all the fun._ **

“No! Please, tell me!” he said desperately.

**_Very well then, but I’ll only answer you in_ ** **my** **_way…_ **

All of a sudden, the drawings of Rarity and Sweetie Belle flew out of Spike’s hands and transformed into translucent images of the two ponies right before his eyes. They both started to spin around him rapidly, while still constantly facing him. Spike closed his eyes and grabbed his head as the dizziness of watching them spin around took in.

And as he did, the voice in his head spoke again in both Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s voices.  
  
“ **I have heard your lament and listened as you deeply reflected.**  
 **Your mind racks and baffles while your heart lies split in two.**  
 **You might find that to** ** _her_** **, your heart's desire remains rejected.**  
 **But set those phasers to hug, because** ** _she_** **shares quite the eye for you.** ”

When Spike opened his eyes, he was lying on the ground and the projections of Rarity and Sweetie had turned back into crayon drawings. The Sculpture Garden now seemed eerily quiet.

_Spike stood up, shivering now. W-What was that all about?! Was that…_

He finally ate up the courage to turn around and glance at Discord’s statue. He instantly looked perplexed when he saw it. It was silent once again, but to Spike, a couple of things seemed odd about it.

_He looks… different. Like, like he’s standing a different way than when I was looking at him a few seconds ago. And— wait a minute. That… crack on his arm. Has that always been there?_

“Spike! Spike!” called Twilight’s voice. “Spike, are you in here?”

“AAH! I-I’m right here!” Spike called back.

“Well, come on! My parents are _really_ anxious to talk to you!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming…” he grumbled. He picked up the drawings and started to run back, but as he did, he kept thinking, and glancing at his drawings. _I still wish I had the answer... Which one?_

He took off too fast to notice as the crack on Discord’s arm slowly extended for a moment. It protruded slightly further across his lion-like appendage, while a soft chuckle echoed in the field around.

**_Ha ha ha ha…_ **

* * *

A long day in Ponyville was finally coming to the end, as the sun lay barely visible above the horizon. Carousel Boutique cast a large shadow as the Crusaders approached it in their wagon and scooter.

“See you in class tomorrow, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo called before they left.

“Yeah…” said Sweetie, who then stopped to yawn. “See ya tomorrow.”

Her walking was slow, as her whole body was feeling heavy now, especially her head. Her mane drooped down in front of her face, slightly disheveled from some of the antics Sweetie and her fellow Crusaders had participated in. Her squinted, baggy eyelids indicated a severe tiredness, as did her lowly hanging head, and another subsequent yawn.

_Man… what a long day. They must’ve been really excited to have me back after two whole days of not being with them. But now I just can’t wait to jump into bed and go to sleep._   
  
_I sure hope Miss Cheerilee likes the big heart. We sure put a lot of effort into it. Too bad I don’t have any cards to give to anypony for Hearts and Hooves Day. Most of my classmates have a special somepony or somepony that they really like. But I don’t. Certainly not Spike…_

Catching herself, she shook her head violently. But with how tired she was, this served to give her a minor headache.

_Oww… No. I promised myself I wasn’t going to think about Spike anymore. I’m not in love with him. There’s no crush. I don’t have a special somepony, and I’m not going to have one until I’m older! Oww, now my head really hurts…_

When she walked into the Boutique and into Rarity’s room, the first thing she noticed was how dark it was in there. Rarity had shut the blinds, blocking off any light from brightening up the room. Her room itself was in a state of disarray, as spools of thread and drapes of clothing lay around the floor.

Finally, Rarity herself was slumped over on her sewing desk next to the machine, snoozing softly as a puddle of drool coated the table around her mouth.

_I guess she’s had a busy day too_ , Sweetie thought to herself. She then realized something. _Ohh, now she’s going to give me a big fuss tomorrow morning about being out for so long tonight. …Oh, well._

She walked over to her older sister and gave her a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Good night, sis,” she whispered. “Sweet dreams.”

After she closed the door behind her, Rarity snorted and began to mutter in her sleep.

“Sweeti— Sweetie… We need… we neejuh talk…”

* * *

“Oh, my. This is indeed a most marvelous night.”

The Princess of the Night gazed upon the night sky that she had decorated a mere hour ago. The stars all twinkled in the sky as they created constellations and covered the sky in light. Her moon proudly floated in the center of the sky, casting its own special light down upon Canterlot.

“Feel free to remain at the doors,” she motioned to her guards. “I’m just going to take a lone stroll around the Royal Garden for a few minutes.”

“You got it, Princess,” one of the two guards said as they both took their positions.

By this time, most of the different animals habiting the garden were asleep, save for the bats.

“There you are, winged mammals of the night. My favorite of all animals,” said Princess Luna as she let one of the bats perch on her hoof. “All the other animals must undoubtedly be jealous. They have to sleep and fulfill their rest during this time. But you lucky things have the honor of accompanying me as I walk.”

Eventually, she was so overtaken by the sights of the garden that her walking started to break into a trot. However, she stopped cold when she spotted a figure at the fountain that centered the garden.

“Who goes there?” she shouted, scaring away the bats.

“Aah!” the figure was so startled that it fell into the fountain water.

Luna ran up to the fountain to get a closer look. One of her guards, having been alerted by Luna’s sudden cry, also ran over. After a few seconds, Spike popped up from the water, gasping for air.

“Hmm… you are Spike, is that correct?” His heart still racing, he nodded at a quick pace. “We— I mean, I recall meeting you in Ponyville on the night of Nightmare Night. You were dressed then as a small purple dragon-like creature, which is a tad redundant in itself, we must admit,” she chuckled, before whispering something to her guard. The guard ran back towards the castle. “If we— I am not mistaken, you and Twilight Sparkle are staying here at the castle for the week, are you not?”

“Well, Twilight is,” said Spike. “I’m only here until the day after tomorrow.”

“Ahh, so we see,” she replied. “Our— uhh, my apologies for startling you,” she continued. Luna’s guard returned with a towel for Spike, which he accepted. She then returned to her position at the garden entrance.

“I wasn’t aware that you had been granted permission from my sister to roam our private garden.”

Spike looked around nervously, and motioned for her to come closer. “Um… between you and me, I didn’t ask anybody if I could come here. I actually kinda snuck in here on my own.”

“Ohhh! Fear not. Your secret is safe with us,” she whispered. Spike drooped his head down in sadness. It was at this moment that Luna noticed Spike had been grasping two flowers. “Forgive me for asking Spike, but is something troubling you?”

“Well… actually yeah, kind of.” He looked around. “Um, Princess, can you keep another secret, just between the two of us?”

“This is… quite a sizable amount of information that we must keep under wraps. From whom are we withholding this secret from? I mean, I.”

“Well… just Twilight, really.”

“Oh,” she said with a sigh of relief. “Well, _that_ shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Okay, well…” He started twiddling his fingers, unsure of how to explain himself. “You see, I’ve had this crush on a pony that I’ve known for a really long time, since I first met her. Her name’s Rarity.”

“We are… most confused,” Luna interrupted. “You say you… _crushed_ a pony? Why wouldst thou do such a cruel thing? Did it… hurt this Rarity?”

“Huh? Oh no, no! Not like that!” Spike hastily said, waving his hands in front of him. “What I mean is… I’ve been in _love_ with her.”

“Oh. That sounds much less painful.”

“Yeah… like I was saying, I’ve had my heart set on her ever since I first met her. Up until now, I thought that we were soul mates and that I was destined to eventually charm her and spend the rest of my life with her, resting in my arms… Ohhh, Rarity…”

He was falling into a daydream, but he was snapped out of it by the sight of Luna staring at him.

“Anyway, but the problem is, something happened. You see, her little sister Sweetie Belle moved in with her a while ago, after their parents moved to Fillydelphia. She really likes to talk to me, not sure why, and just… I don’t know. I’ve had these weird feelings for her, ever since she gave me this _really_ cool ocean sapphire gem. I-I think I might be in love with her now, too. And so… I don’t know what to do.”

He lied down on the fountain and gazed up at the moon. “I don’t know who I love more. How do I choose? I thought Rarity would be only love, but Sweetie is so nice and… has always been such a really great friend to me. Either way, I think I would feel really bad.”

After a minute of processing everything Spike had just told her, Luna smiled at him and broke into a giggle.

“I-I’m confused,” Spike said, sitting up and turning to her again. “What’s so funny?”

“My apologies. It’s just your dilemma makes me reminisce of an old apprentice of mine. Her name was Lilac Candescence.” She closed her eyes and smiled in remembrance. Something puzzled Spike. _Is that… a tear?_ “She faced a problem not unlike yours. She found herself infatuated with one of the royal guards Silver Helmet, as well as the local bookkeeper, Sepia Tone.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“For a while, she was confident that her heart was set on Silver Helmet. But I theorize that she had some sort of unique encounter with Sepia Tone, because eventually, she confided in me, in this same spot, that she was having second thoughts.”

“Wow,” said Spike. “So what did you say?”

Luna gazed up to the night sky, and prompted Spike to do the same. “I told her… ‘Look into the stars, Lilac. For the stars hold the answers. Just gaze up at them… and everything will become clear.’ She started to cry. I asked if she was sad. But she wasn’t. She left the castle and I watched as she ran to Sepia Tone’s house… to tell him how she felt and to ask him to dinner.”

Spike was spellbound. He was still gazing at the stars. But now he was looking at them more intently.

“They ended up getting married shortly after that, and they were happy. Oh… I do miss her sometimes…” Luna dusted herself off and turned the other way. “I do apologize, but I should return to my quarters now. I hope I was of great help.”

“Bye, Princess!” said Spike. “And thanks for the advice.”

“Oh, and Spike?” she said, turning around.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you… for this lovely talk. I do not have the chance to relax and have a sincere talk like this with another pony very often— or dragon, in this instance.”

“You’re welcome,” said Spike.

He gazed up at the stars after she left.

_Well… it took a few minutes, but… I think it’s much clearer now._


	8. We Need to Talk

The bell tower above the Ponyville Schoolhouse rung proudly, signaling the end of another school day for Ponyville’s young fillies and colts. But of course, today was a special day for Cheerilee’s class.

“Alright, my little ponies! Class is over, and now you can start exchanging the cards and gifts that you all got each other for Hearts and Hooves Day!”

Cheerilee’s classroom was a vibrant scene of excitement and surprises, as the students all celebrated in the love and friendship of Hearts and Hooves Day. Dinky Doo and Pipsqueak were seen exchanging cards with one another, and then embracing with a hug. Ruby Pinch had brought a special present for an excited Truffle Shuffle.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had gone out to their lockers to bring in their special gift for Cheerilee, whilst Silver Spoon was near the door, tapping her hoof impatiently.

“Ugh!” she groaned. “How long does it take a filly to use the bathroom? We need to ditch this lame scene!”

“Um, excuse me Silver Spoon…” She responded to a tapping on her back to see Rumble, the young brother of lazy pegasus Thunderlane, clutching a card in his hoof. “I was- I was just wondering if you wante—” But she interrupted him by swatting the card away.

“Ugh! Get that thing out of my face.” Rumble began to walk away with his head down. Silver gritted her teeth and sighed. “Fine. Let’s see it.” And so, Rumble excitedly picked it up with his mouth and handed it to her.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders finally finished dragging in their large papier-mâché heart made for Cheerilee. It was painted pink on the front and back with red on the sides. White lace bordered the big heart, and a streamer rendering of Cheerilee adorned the front corner along with some confetti.

Once they brought it in front of an astonished Cheerilee, the Crusaders quickly stood next to the heart to present it. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both had beaming grins, whilst Sweetie Belle looked like she was trying to put on her best fake smile.

“Why, girls!” said Cheerilee, with stars in her eyes. “This is… amazing! You three made this all by yourselves?”

“We sure did!” Scootaloo replied.

“We told ya before! It’s to show ya how much we appreciate you as our teacher!” added Apple Bloom. “You deserve this super-special gift because you’re the best teacher ever!”

“…Yeah,” said Sweetie, a little less enthusiastically than Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. This drew curious glances from them.

“Aw girls, you flatterers!” said Cheerilee. “I love it! This is even better than the heart you made me last year! And uh… a _lot_ better than what you tried to give Big Mac and I that day,” she reflected.

“Eh heh heh…” said Sweetie as the three of them all looked down sheepishly.

“Thank you so much for this, girls.” _Hmm… how odd. Sweetie Belle usually bugs me about my special somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day. I guess what happened last year finally made her realize..._

The girls walked aside to let Cheerilee be alone with her gift. At the same time, Silver Spoon was now intently reading Rumble’s card, her cheeks blushing. She was even beginning to crack a smile.

However, Diamond Tiara then reappeared, and Silver Spoon hastily shoved the card back to Rumble and nudged him away, now blushing with embarrassment.

“There you are! Now let’s go! All this Hearts and Hooves Day junk is gonna make me wretch.”

“Hold on,” Diamond Tiara replied. “There’s… something I need to do first.”

* * *

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced at each other, and then at Sweetie Belle, who was looking down and kicking up at the ground. Both of them could easily tell that something was wrong.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle…” said Apple Bloom. “Rarity wasn’t too mad about y’all coming home late, was she?”

“Huh?” Sweetie replied. “Oh. No. I mean, she was a little mad at me this morning, and she gave me her usual, ‘Sweetie Belle, you had me worried sick! Next time, you need to come home before it gets dark so I don’t have to worry about you!’ Same old, same old…”

After a few moments of silence, Scootaloo decided to break the tension.

“Sweetie Belle… is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, okay?” She turned herself away from them, signaling that she didn’t want to talk about it any further.

_Why did Hearts and Hooves Day have to come now? I’m trying to forget about this stupid crush for Spike, and seeing everypony with cards and flowers and special someponies and stuff sure isn’t helping!_  
  
_Why won’t it go away? I still feel like I’m in love with Spike. How long do I have to ignore my feelings in order for things to go back to normal?_

She turned to face her friends again.

“I guess it’s just because I haven’t received any special gifts or anything from any of our friends, that’s all.”

“Aww, that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo and ah haven’t gotten anything from our friends either!”

“Yeah!” added Scootaloo. “So we can all be unloved together!”

Apple Bloom was about to rebut, until Scootaloo felt a tap on her back. She turned around to see Featherweight behind her, looking very twitterpated. He was sweating heavily and his hooves were trembling. He was carrying a blue card in his wing.

“Hi, Featherweight! Uh… what’s up?”

Featherweight quickly handed the card to her and dashed away, leaving her astonished. Curiously, she opened up the card. The writing on it was so small that she had to squint her eyes in order to read it.

“I… love you.”

Scootaloo drew back and put her hoof to her mouth as her cheeks flushed intensely. Apple Bloom took a peek at the card and began to snicker at her. Scootaloo awkwardly started rubbing her hair.

“Hey, Apple Bloom!” Diamond Tiara said as she approached them.

“What do you want, Diamond Tiara?” said Apple Bloom dully, after she stopped snickering. “Here to tease us because Sweetie and ah haven’t gotten anything?”

“Normally, I _would_ do that. But…” She gave a heavy sigh. “Look, daddy said I wouldn’t get any allowance this week if I didn’t make a card for at least one pony. The thing is, all of the boys in this class disgust me, and if I gave them anything, they’d be all over me. Don’t want any of _that_.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.

“So… here.” Much to Apple Bloom’s surprise, Diamond Tiara tossed a card her way, which she caught in her hooves and began to read. “Don’t think it means anything though! You’re still a loser,” she remarked as she went to join Silver Spoon.

Despite this rude gesture, Apple Bloom still found herself blushing. Scootaloo shot a grin at her, and she responded with a sheepish shrug. Sweetie Belle huffed, directing their attention back to her again.

Scootaloo decided to change the subject. “So, do you have anypony to give a special surprise to, Sweetie Belle? I already gave a card to Rumble.”

“Yeah…” said Apple Bloom. “And I gave Twist a big ol’ candy cane. How about you?” But despite their best efforts, Sweetie began to walk towards the entrance, with her eyes still to the floor.

“Nopony. You guys are my only friends, and I don’t have a special somepony. And now I’m starting to think I never will…”

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo called. “Where are you going?”

And that’s when her patience finally wore thin, as all of the frustration and heartbreak she had been trying to bottle up the past couple of days finally resurfaced.

“I’M GOING HOME, OKAY?” she harshly shouted to them, her voice cracking to an extreme degree. Tears were welling up in her eyes. “WHERE NOPONY HAS TO SEE ME FOR THE ALONE AND UNLOVED **FREAK** THAT I AM!”

She then ran out of the schoolhouse, leaving Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Cheerilee, and the entire class stunned, their mouths agape and their eyes wide with shock.

Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had their jaws hanging as they watched the filly scamper away, crying harder and harder the more she ran.

* * *

Sweetie immediately noticed that something was wrong as she approached her home, her eyes still red and her cheeks wet. The curtains were all draped over the windows and Sweetie saw a peculiar sign on one of the windows.

 _’Closed’?_ She observed, wiping her eyes and face. _But… why would it be closed? Rarity never closes on a Wednesday._

Things got even stranger when she stepped inside. The door creaked as she slowly opened it. She stepped into the house to see an unusual sight.

The foyer was miraculously clean. It was typically cluttered with dress materials and other such objects. But today, the floor was cleared and everything was neatly piled on various tables. A stack of six finished dresses were neatly hung on a rack and tucked away into a corner.

And standing at the center of the room was Rarity herself. She was facing the door, as if she had been standing there calmly waiting for Sweetie Belle for a while.

“Hello, Sweetie Belle,” she said blankly.

“Uh, hi, sis.”

“How was school today?”

“Um… great?” she answered nervously. _What’s… going on here?_ “Hey! You… finished all your dresses.”

“Indeed I did,” Rarity replied. “I tried to get them done as fast as I possibly could.”

“R-Really?” Sweetie was starting to sweat again. _What does she want? Why does she keep staring at me like that?_ “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Actually, there is,” Rarity replied, her blank expression suddenly becoming a determined one. “There’s something I’ve been trying to get done all week, and today’s the day I’m finally going to do it. There’s no escaping me now, my little sister!”

“What are you talking about?” Sweetie asked, her hooves trembling. “Rarity, what’s going on?”

“Sweetie Ophelia Belle…”

Her eyes went wide. _She only uses my full name when she’s being_ really _serious._

“We need to talk.”

* * *

“T-talk? What about?” Sweetie asked, crouching down in fear.

“Now, Sweetie Belle, please don’t play any games with me anymore,” said Rarity, walking straight over to her.

“B-but I thought you loved playing games with me!” she rebutted. “You always look like you’re having fun when we play Attackboats or Hide and Seek or Align Five!”

“That’s not what I mean, Sweetums,” said Rarity with a facehoof. “Listen… do you remember the other day, when you confided in me about your friend whom you said had a crush on one of her other friends?”

“…Y-yeah,” Sweetie replied after a few seconds, finally starting to realize what this was about.

At this point, Rarity dropped her upfrontal approach and gently crouched down to be on eye level with her sister, and began using a much gentler tone.

“Sweetie Belle... it’s not actually a friend a yours, but rather, _you_ who is in love. Am I right?”

She hesitated to answer. She even scrunched up her lips trying to remain silent.

“Sweetums…” she whispered. “Please. You don’t have to be afraid. It’s okay. I’m your sister, and I will always love you. No matter what. You know that.”

Rarity gently nuzzled Sweetie’s mane, until Sweetie immediately began crying profusely into her sister’s chest. She had been hiding her tears from Rarity for a while, and now she finally had the chance to let all her sadness stream through.

“Yes! Yes!” she replied in-between tears. “It _is_ me! I made up the whole ‘friend’ thing! It’s _me_ who has a crush, sis! It’s me, it’s me, it’s me-he-he!”

Rarity embraced her sister tight, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.

“It’s ok now, Sweetums. It’s okay.”

She continued to let Sweetie cry into her shoulder for a good number of minutes, until eventually the filly’s tears finally started to dry up, and she lifted her head to look at her big sister.

“Do you feel better now, Sweetie Belle?”

“A lot better,” she answered, her voice still shaky.

“Relieved now, am I right?” Sweetie nodded in response. “Now you no longer have to be so secretive about your feelings for Spike…”

“Yeah, I guess so— Wait a minute!” She suddenly pulled herself away from Rarity and stared at her with wide eyes. “H-how did you know that I was in love with _Spike_?

Rarity put both hooves over her mouth as she realized her mistake.

_Oops, that was a mistake. What am I supposed to do? I can’t tell her that I was eavesdropping on her! I just gained her trust back, I don’t want to lose it again!_

“Well… I— Uhh… Well, because I… heard you saying his name in your sleep! Yes! And after seeing you generously hand that ocean blue sapphire to him after our earlier talk about your “friend”, well… I just put two and two together!” she lied, chuckling nervously.

“Rarity?”

“Yes, Sweetie Belle?” It was Rarity’s turn to be nervous now. _This is it. She’s going to call my bluff. Way to go, Rarity._

“I’m _really_ sorry I didn’t tell you before that I had a crush on Spike.”

“Oh, that’s all right, dear sister,” said Rarity was a breath of relief. “Though, I am a bit curious now. Why _did_ you keep your affections a secret from me in the first place?”

“Well, it’s actually kind of silly,” Sweetie Belle responded, feeling much more comfortable. “You see, I thought that if I told you I was in love with somepony, you were going to make a big deal about it. And then you were going to put me in a fancy dress, and make me and Spike have a romantic dinner together or something…”

Rarity gasped. “Why, Sweetie Belle! What an _excellent_ idea!”

“Exactl— wait, WHAT?”

Rarity immediately began running towards the cabinet in her back room. “That’s just exactly what I was going to propose! Oh, if only that dress I had made for you hadn’t gone missing…”

Now looking incredibly fearful, Sweetie tried to make a break for the front door, but just before she reached the knob…

“Oh my stars! This is AMAZING! The dress! It’s back again!”

Rarity rushed back to her, levitating the blue dress in tow. As she rambled, she fit the dress onto her younger sister despite her resistance.

“Now granted, Spike is still in Canterlot with Twilight until tomorrow, but there is still time for you to practice! Oh, this will all be so romantic! I can set the two of you up on a blind date at the Plaque de Pâtes Pour Le Pony restaurant on the fancy side of town! You two will get caught in the moment, staring into each other’s eyes, as the violinist plays a song of passion. Spike will finally realize what he’s been missing all along, and you’ll be fully content and gushing tears of hope as he finally…”

But all her aloud planning and daydreaming ceased when she opened her eyes again and looked at Sweetie Belle.

She was cowering against the wall, fearfully looking up at her sister. She was shaking heavily as sweat trickled down her face, and her pupils had shrunken in pure terror.

“P-please… no…” she stammered. She put her hoof over her face and squinted hard, trembling even harder.

And all at once, Rarity had an epiphany.

_Oh my word. She’s terrified. The poor child is cowering… from me!_

She looked at her sister, and at the dress she had just forced onto her, and then she realized just how close she had been leaning her face towards her.

_…Sweet Celestia! Rarity, what are you doing? You can’t just rush her into such an escapade like this. She’s only a little filly who still has but the smallest inkling of what love even is. And here I am, trying to take full advantage of this situation and man the helm on my own._  
  
_This is why._  
  
_This is why she tried to hide her feelings for Spike. Because… because this isn’t what she wants. No, this is what she’s been fearing all along._

Rarity stood there for a minute, completely dead silent, still leaning in close to Sweetie.

“R-Rarity?” she uttered, her voice and body still trembling.

All of a sudden, Rarity embraced her sister again and began crying, just as Sweetie had done mere minutes ago, much to the younger sister’s pure shock.

Rarity’s crying noises were much louder and more pronounced than Sweetie Belle’s, keeping in tune with her infamous penchant for acting overly dramatic with her emotions.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle! My dear sister! I am so sorry!” Rarity pleaded. “I don’t know what I’m doing! I wasn’t thinking straight! Of course this isn’t what you want! What was I thinking? I’m sorry! Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”

“I—” Sweetie had been rendered speechless by Rarity’s sudden change of behavior, and struggled to find a way to respond.

After a few moments, Rarity looked up to her with a wide puppy-eyes look and pouting lips. It was then that Sweetie finally found her voice again.

“Of course I can forgive you,” Sweetie said, returning the hug. “You’re my sister Rarity, and I love you too.”

Both sisters were crying now. But they were mutual tears of happiness, relief, warmth… and sisterly love.

“If we had just been honest with each other the whole time…” Rarity thought out loud.

“I know,” Sweetie chimed in. “Now I wish I had told you sooner.”

“Oh, my sister. I just don’t know why I would...” But then she stopped, and made a loud gasp. “Of course… THE BOOKS.”

“Huh?” replied Sweetie.

“The books!”

Rarity’s mind flashed to the bookshelf that stood in the corner of her bedroom, and all the romance novels that filled its shelves, minus the ones that Sweetie had “borrowed” recently.

“My romance novels. _They_ are the true culprits behind this love catastrophe!”

“How so?” Sweetie replied again.

“Those fictionalized accounts of amour and liaison have been nothing but trouble! Their evil strokes of literary passion have been corrupting my mind this entire time, warping my perceptions of what it truly means to love and be loved! They taught me that the first flirt was a big fuss, and should be treated with the utmost careful planning.”

“But they’re wrong. Love is something that’s natural and to be cherished. And I’ve been blind this whole time. It took my little sister to realize that. Sweetie Belle, I’ve been a fool. I’ve been relying on some dumb old books to teach me what amore is instead of letting my own heart guide me.”

She began to giggle to herself. “Well, how ironic. I’m always telling Twilight that books aren’t the answer for everything. What a massive hypocrite I’ve turned out to be.”

“Rarity…?”

“Yes, Sweetums?”

She looked up to Rarity with big eyes. “…What do I do now? About Spike, I mean.”

“Ah, yes. All that aside, what _have_ you been doing about Spike as of late?”

“Well…” she shuffled her hoof on the floor. “Not much, really. In fact, I’ve… kind of been trying to forget about him.”

“Oh Sweetie, you mustn’t do that!” Rarity exclaimed, extending both of her hooves to her. “Just because Spike has been absent, that doesn’t mean you should try to pretend the feelings aren’t there. You have to take action and _show_ him how you feel! And besides…” She gave her sister a knowing smirk. “I can tell that you’ve been trying to do that already.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on now, Sweetie. First several of my aforementioned novels turn up missing, and then the dress I had specially made you vanishes too.” She took a sniff to the dress, and her face twisted up. “And now it’s reeked of sweat since it reappeared. Did you honestly think I wasn’t eventually going to put two and two together?”

_Of course, I didn’t fit all the pieces together until just now. But still._

“Yeah, I kind of… tried to borrow the dress without you noticing, and I was _going_ to tell you about your books,” Sweetie explained, chuckling in embarrassment. “You see, I kind of talked to Fluttershy, and she told me that I had to be more… ‘anominous’ or something like that. So I… was going to use the dress to try to make Spike love me back without telling him. …He was already gone, though.”

Rarity contemplated this revelation, not noticing how distant Sweetie became around the end of her explanation.

_She talked to Fluttershy about her crush? Before me, even? That’s… a tad puzzling. I wasn’t aware Fluttershy even had the slightest inkling about love and passion._  
  
_Hmm… anonymous… hold on, that’s it!_

“IDEA!” She exclaimed. “Sweetie Belle, I know exactly what to do!”

“What is it?” she asked excitedly. “Tell me!”

Rarity started searching through her drawers. “Now, your idea was on the right track. It will take some extra effort to make Spike notice you, when he’s already trying to direct all his affection towards me and…”

“Wait!” Sweetie suddenly shouted. “You mean even _you_ knew that Spike had a crush on you?”

_Oh petunia, not again! Curse you, you slippery tongue!_

“Ugh, come on!” Sweetie grunted. “Did everypony know about this but ME?”

Rarity couldn’t help but giggle softly at this scene.

_Well, thinking about it, I suppose it was very obvious to everypony else, even if I’m still trying to take it all in. Now wait a moment though… Sweetie didn’t know about Spike being enamored with me before? I wonder who told her…_  
  
_Oh, I can’t worry about that now!_

“Focus on this now, Rari— I mean, Sweetie Belle,” she cut in with a smile. “Because this is the answer to all your problems.”

* * *

Sweetie Belle beamed with a big smile, which was then replaced with a frown of confusion when Rarity levitated a pen and a small square of paper in front of her.

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

“It’s fairly simple,” Rarity explained. “While Spike is still in Canterlot until tomorrow, _you_ are going to write and send him a note that says…” She whispered in Sweetie’s ear. Her cheeks immediately flushed. “Once Spike returns home, he’ll be in an air of confusion because he’ll have discovered that somepony in Ponyville loves him. Then it’ll be a much greater opportunity to get out there and, more subtlety mind you, let him know how you feel!”

She let Sweetie take the pen and paper in her hooves.

“I-I don’t know, sis,” said Sweetie. “I’m… afraid.”

“Would you like me to write it for you, then?” Sweetie silently nodded. “Very well, then.” Rarity quickly wrote a message on the paper and then proceeded to slide it into an envelope. “Now, all we need to do is make sure this gets to Spike.”

“How are you going to get it to him before the end of the week?” Sweetie asked.

“Don’t worry,” Rarity said as she put the envelope in her saddlebag and opened the front door. “I know _just_ the mare for the job. I was going to go out for a stroll anyway, and I’ll get this delivered while I’m there. Fear not, Sweetie Belle.”

“Hey sis, can I take this dress off now?”

“Oh yes, of course. Get that silly thing off as soon as you can.”

After she left, Sweetie Belle went up to her room, pulled off the dress, and sat onto her bed. Tears rose from her eyes again, but they were more tears of happiness.

“Everything’s… going to be alright after all,” she mused. “Spike and I… it’s going to work.”

* * *

“And well, I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright with her,” said Cheerilee as she and Rarity walked down the streets of Ponyville Square together.

“Thank you for telling me about this, Cheerilee,” said Rarity. “Now I see why she seemed so upset when she came home. I’ve already talked to her though. It’s a personal issue, but we’re working it out now.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. I was just worried about her, that’s all,” said Cheerilee. She started to separate from Rarity. “Oh, and Rarity?”

“Yes?”

“I think Sweetie Belle is _very_ lucky to have a sister like you who cares for her so much.” She finally left to go shop at the market.

A small tear ran down Rarity’s cheek. _What a touching gesture._

_Now let’s see, I’ve already sent the letter to be delivered to Spike, but I still need to talk to somepony else about her infatuation. Because frankly, I don’t trust myself to help plan her next course of action anymore._  
  
_But who can I confide in? Twilight and Spike are still in Canterlot. Applejack is usually busy bucking apples at this time of day. Rainbow Dash is… probably not the best pony to seek for love advice._  
  
_That just leaves Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. However, I haven’t seen either of them in several days now. Nopony I’ve talked to seems to have seen mane or tail Pinkie Pie at all, and the last I saw of Fluttershy was after she helped me carry in groceries a few days ago and then flew off…_  
  
_Wait, why does it seem like everypony is disappearing on me? There’s no reason for them to, unless…_

Rarity gasped loudly. “Oh, no!” She raised her hoof and took a small whiff. “Maybe it is the perfume after all! It must be repelling all my friends! Oh, I have to get to the spa immediately!”

She started to make a dash towards the spa, but then she suddenly collided with another running pony, and they both tumbled down.

“Hey, now!” Rarity shouted, getting up. “You need to watch where you’re walking, you… Pinkie Pie?!”

“Rarity?” Pinkie Pie responded.

“Thank goodness I found you!” they both said simultaneously. “I really, really need your help with something! What? You need _my_ help? Let me go first, my problem is more important! No, mine is! No, mine! IT’S ABOUT SWEETIE BELLE!”

They both covered their mouths at the same time, and then they both started to laugh. Rartiy spoke first.

“Wait, you came to talk to me about Sweetie Belle, Pinkie? What were _you_ going to say?”

Pinkie gasped. “Oh, no! Never! I’m not going to ruin _another_ secret this time!”

“Pinkie Pie… is this about her affection towards Spike?”

“Oh well, that’s a relief,” Pinkie said cheerily. “Because that’s what I was going to tell you, but it was also the secret that I needed to keep, so I couldn’t tell you, but I wanted to tell you even though I couldn’t, and now I don’t have to tell you because you already know!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I bumped into you then, because you see, I…” But Pinkie silenced her by putting her hoof to Rarity’s mouth.

“Not another word, Rarity! Because I have the perfect plan!”

She whispered her plan into Rarity’s ear. Rarity experienced mixed reactions of intrigue, confusion, excitement, and finally jubilation.

“Why Pinkie, that plan is surprisingly clever!” she excitedly noted. “But… are you sure that it’ll work?”

“As sure as I’m pink, which I am, or at least, I hope I still am! I’ll check in the mirror later, but for now, let’s get moving, Rarity! Because we need to stop talking and start PLANNING!”

* * *

“Come on, Spike!” Twilight urged. “You need to start packing now. After all, you need to wake up and be ready to take the train back to Ponyville at the very crack of dawn!”

“I know, I know,” said Spike.

He got up off of his bed and started tossing things behind him into his suitcase. He had a glum look on his face the whole time he did it.

Twilight watched him for a while, and then she finally felt compelled to speak.

“It’s a good thing that we remembered Hearts and Hooves Day,” she said. “I’m really glad that we were able to catch up with all our old friends and give them something special. Remember when Moondancer just stared at me and said, ‘Who are you and where’s the real Twilight Sparkle’?” She giggled.

“…Yeah.” Spike answered flatly.

“Spike… is something wrong?” she asked. “You haven’t been yourself ever since you woke up this morning, and you’ve been distant the entire day. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered. “I’m just… thinking, is all.”

“Oh.”

She went back to watching him, until he picked up his snow globe of Canterlot off the nightstand and tossed it behind him. It was about to miss the suitcase and smash straight onto the floor.

However, Twilight predicted the ornament’s trajectory and she made a dive to catch the falling snow globe with her magic just in time.

“Spike, you need to be more careful!” she scolded. “You almost smashed your favorite snow globe!”

“Huh?” replied Spike, turning around. “…Oh. Sorry.”

“Spike, are you sure you’re alright? Is there anything you want to talk about?”

He contemplated for a minute. And then he fully turned around towards her.

 _I can see that sad look in his eyes,_ Twilight thought to herself. _I wonder what’s wrong._

“Actually, Twilight… there _is_ something. You see, ever since last night, I’ve been thinking really hard about something. And I think I’m ready to ask you a big question. Because there’s just one thing I really need to know.”

“Go ahead,” she cheerfully replied, pleased that Spike was being so open to her. “I’m all ears!”

“Twilight… does Rarity love me back?”

Her eyes snapped open and her smile flipped into a frown, as she dropped the snow globe. The loud CLUNK it made on the floor contrasted against the otherwise eerie silence in the room.

“W-what?”

“Rarity. You know how I have a crush on her, right?” Twilight nodded, her face still in shock. “Something else has come up and… I just gotta know this, Twilight. Does she love me back? Please tell me.”

Twilight turned away from him and stared out at the window. The room was silent for a minute or two. Spike almost wanted to break the silence. But eventually, it was Twilight that did.

“Spike…” she said softly. “There are some things that I was going to wait to tell you until you were older.”

Spike remained silent.

“Most children develop crushes on adult ponies as they get to know them, and believe that their love will eventually be reciprocated, and that they’ve found their life-long soul mate. But the truth is… Oh Spike, I really don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this.”

“Please, Twilight,” Spike pleaded. “Just tell me.”

“The truth is…” She turned around again, and Spike finally saw that her eyes were full of tears. “…their love is usually unrequited, and is eventually outgrown.”

Spike sat down on the bed, starting to feel a great pain in his heart. _Well, this is it. That’s the answer I was expecting, but… why does it still hurt so much?_

“I’m so sorry, Spike. The only way you’re going to get a fully honest answer is to ask Rarity herself, but as for what I think…” She hesitated, but Spike gestured for her to keep going. “She most likely sees you as just a friend Spike, and nothing more.”

The room was silent again. Spike had a blank expression on his face as he stared down to the floor.

“Spike?”

“…I’m fine. It’s okay, Twilight, I guess that’s the answer I kind of expected. I mean really, could you imagine a dragon and a pony ending up together anyway?” he mused, giggling a little.

“Well, don’t give up the battle so fast,” Twilight said, starting to giggle herself. “I’ve read about pony-dragon relationships before, and they’re not as uncommon as you would think.”

She started to leave, but before exiting the room, she turned around. “You want to know something, Spike?”

“What?”

“In my honest opinion, it’s not so much a species difference, but an _age_ difference that separates the two of you.” And then she walked out.

Spike ran over to his nightstand, and opened the shelf. The two drawings were there, but this time he only pulled out one.

Sweetie Belle’s.

“WHOOOOAAAAOOOAAAAAA!”

Suddenly, Spike heard a loud noise behind him, and shards of glass landed on the floor in front of him.

He quickly turned around to see a certain wall-eyed gray pegasus lying on the floor, the bedroom window behind her completely shattered. Dozens of letters poured out from her mailbag.

“Oww… always a rough landing, huh?”

“Oh, hey Ditzy Doo!” said Spike, going over to help her up and gather her mail. “What are you doing here? Did you fly all the way here from Ponyville?”

“You bet!” she enthusiastically replied. “I didn’t break anything this time, did I?”

“Uhh…”

“Aw, horse feathers!” she said, when she looked behind her. “That’s the fourth window this week! I’m always getting the flight path wrong! I knew I should’ve accounted for the change of windspeed around Canterlot.”

Spike just rolled his eyes as she continued rambling. Despite appearances, Ditzy Doo was actually a very intelligent pony, much like Twilight, and a frequent visitor to the library. But she was also soft-spoken around ponies she wasn’t well acquainted with, so other ponies mostly remembered her for her extreme clumsiness and goofy appearance, as well as her love of muffins.

“Uh hey, Ditzy?” Spike said, interrupting her thinking. “Do you have mail for me or something?”

“Oh, yes! I almost forgot!” She began sifting through all the mail that Spike handed back to her. “Let’s see now… Nope… Nope… Ah! Here it is!”

She handed Spike a letter. He drew back however, when he grabbed it and noticed there was no return address.

“Say Ditzy, who’s this letter _from_?”

“Sorry, can’t say!” she replied, slipping her mailbag back on. “The pony who gave that to me told me not to tell you who it’s from. Anyway, I gotta fly! Big muffin sale at the Sugarcube Corner today, can’t miss it! Bye, Spike!”

“See ya, Ditzy!” he called out. “Tell Dinky I said hi!”

Turning his attention back to the letter, he quickly opened the envelope and pulled out the small piece of paper.

“…Huh?”

_Hey, I know this handwriting…_

The message on the paper was written in a very distinct black cursive handwriting and it said only one thing.

“’I love you’?”


	9. The Two Invitations

“Oh, it’s okay, Rarity,” said Fluttershy as the two of them walked down Ponyville Square together. “I totally understand. And you know that I’m always happy to give my friends some advice.”

“I know you are,” Rarity responded, hoisting up the saddlebags she was carrying. “And that’s why you’re the Element of Kindness _and_ my very best friend.” Fluttershy blushed in modesty. “Besides, Sweetie Belle did say she had talked to you already, so I knew I could confide in you without the awkward explanations.”

“Yeah. I felt so sad for her when I saw her looking upset in the park, and she seemed so worried and confused when she came to talk to me,” Fluttershy reflected. “I’m really glad that you’re helping her work it out, though. I thought she was going to be afraid to talk to you.”

“Well she was, and to be honest, she had good reason to be,” said Rarity, a hint of remorse in her eyes. “I still feel so bad that I put her through that pressure…”

“Oh, it wasn’t your fault, Rarity,” Fluttershy assured, putting a hoof to her friend’s shoulder. “We all make mistakes.”

Rarity chuckled, and returned her gesture. “You see? You always have the right things to say. Who can ever remain in doubt around you, Fluttershy?”

“I know…” she replied. She frowned to herself, though. _There is still one pony who can…_

“So, are we still up for the spa?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ve really been looking forward to our get-together. You see, I…”

“Wait a minute,” said Rarity, suddenly whipping around to Fluttershy. “Did I _really_ schedule a get-together at the spa today? But it’s Thursday. I thought we usually met up in the weekends.”

“Yeah, don’t you remember? You told me last week that you had a lot of orders to fill over the week and that we should have a spa date on Thursday.”

“Oh, dear…” said Rarity, looking down to the ground. She rattled her brain in deep thought. “I’m… sorry, Fluttershy but, I already made some plans this morning. I’m afraid this spa date will have to be cancelled.”

Fluttershy’s face dropped, and her lip began to quiver.

“A-are you sure, Rarity?” she responded, sounding immensely disappointed. “Because… it’s just that this spa date is all I’ve been thinking about the past few days. I was really hoping that I could…” She slowly grew quieter. “…talk to you about… something.”

“Why? Is something wrong?” said Rarity, seriously concerned.

“I… Well, no. Not exactly, it’s just that I— Oh… never mind. It’s alright.” She meekly started to walk the other way, back towards her cottage.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy,” said Rarity. “Maybe another time.”

“Yeah…” she quietly replied.

Rarity watched her leave, still with a look of concern on her face. But then she whipped back around to look at the big clock.

“Oh, heavens! It’s almost eight o’clock. I need to meet Pinkie at the Corner right away!”

She sprinted as fast as she could to the Sugarcube Corner and knocked on the door.

“Pinkie? Are you in there?”

Pinkie Pie suddenly burst open the double doors at the top, startling Rarity.

“Hey, Rarity! You’re just in time! Ready to get started?”

“Oh! Pinkie, _please_ don’t startle me like that again,” said Rarity, clutching her heart. “But yes, I’ve got all the supplies. Shall we start setting things up and getting everything ready?”

* * *

_Whoo, whoo!_

The Ponyville Express proudly chugged down the line as it began to pull in at the train station, carrying in tow several passengers from Equestria’s capital city.

Several citizens of Ponyville gathered at the platform, eagerly waiting for their friends, family, and/or associates that were about to depart from the train.

But amongst them was a small white filly, standing at the back of the crowd and donning one of Rarity’s large and old, unused sunhats that she borrowed from her older sister (this time with her permission). It was mostly light salmon but with a yellow band and a blue rose tucked inside.

She also sported her dark green overcoat, the one she typically wore in the winter. Coupled with the sunhat which she had tipped forward to hide her face, Sweetie Belle was completely unrecognizable from a distance.

The doors to the train opened after it pulled in, and the passengers all began to step out and greet those who were waiting for them there. Many of them were clearly denizens of Canterlot, coming to Ponyville for their own reasons.

But there were also a handful of ponies that were natural residents of Ponyville, coming back from a visit or extended stay at Canterlot. One of them was the small dragon Spike, dragging along his heavy suitcase with considerable effort.

_There he is!_ Sweetie thought.

“Need a hand, there?” said a teenage bellhop, clad in a red uniform. “I could carry that bag all the way over to the library if you’d like.”

“Hmm… sure, why not?” answered Spike. “If Celestia insisted that you come with me on the ride back, I guess I might as well let you do _something_.”

The bellhop hoisted the bag on his back and staggeringly started to carry it with him on his way out of the station. “No problem… I’ll get this… over there… in a jiff!”

After he was out of sight, Spike went to sit down on a nearby bench and started thinking to himself, as the ponies on the platform all started to scatter.

_I wonder if he saw the note yet? Should I go over there and talk to them? Should I tell him it’s from me? Oh… this is all too much pressure! Where’s Rarity when I need her?_

But she stopped thinking and drew her attention back to Spike when she noticed him pull out something from his pocket.

It was the note. The simple note that Rarity wrote for her and sent all the way out to him. The note that had just three simple words, written in black cursive ink.

Sweetie gasped when she saw him pull out the note. Then a wide smile stretched across her face and her eyes grew big, when she glimpsed Spike starting to smile as he gazed at the note.

She started jumping up in excitement.

_Yes! It worked! He got the note! And he’s smiling!_   
  
_Now Spike knows that somepony loves him, and I can tell him that it’s me! That I’m the one who loves him! Yes! Yes! Yes!_

“YEESSSS!” she shouted into the skies. The whole station grew quiet then. When she looked around her, she realized that everypony was staring at her.

“Are you… alright, little miss?” one of the stallions waiting in line at the ticket gate asked.

“Um… yeah,” she answered awkwardly. _Uh-oh. I hope Spike didn’t see that._

She glanced over to Spike. But to her relief, he seemed too invested in the mystery of his special note to have noticed her.

“Thank goodness,” she said quietly, still blushing at having made such a scene. _Maybe I should… get out of here._

She proceeded to walk away, but she still flashed a beaming smile and squinted her eyes in absolute giddiness.

Meanwhile, Spike was still looking at the note, and he sighed lovingly.

“I love you too, Rarity…”

* * *

The vibrant atmosphere of the Ponyville Market was complimented by the happily bouncing Sweetie Belle, still smiling with a face of absolute satisfaction and euphoria.

She was still wearing Rarity’s salmon sunhat, but she no longer had it tipped over her face, and so she was able to show off her dark and light purple mane, having been glossed that morning with help from Rarity.

Her winter overcoat had been tucked along with a bag of bits from Rarity into her saddlebags, which flew up and down in rhythm with the filly’s bouncing.

“Morning, Bon-Bon!” she called. “How was your Hearts and Hooves Day yesterday?”

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle!” Bon-Bon called back from a table outside the Sugarcube Corner, “It was just splendid, thanks for asking! I’ll tell Lyra you said ‘hi’!”

“Hey, Roseluck! Thanks for the flowers the other day!”

“Oh, no problem, Sweetie Belle!” said Roseluck at her flower stand. “Happy belated Hearts and Hooves Day!”

“How are your carrots today, Golden Harvest?”

“It looks like they’re almost ready to sprout now,” responded Golden Harvest, tending to her carrot garden. “Thanks for asking, Sweetie Belle!”

“I really like your new manestyle, Minuette!”

“Thanks, Sweetie Belle!”

* * *

“I just think that we should,” said Apple Bloom. “Just to see if she’s alright.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Scootaloo replied.

The two of them were walking down the road to Carousel Boutique yet again, both looking intimately concerned. However, Sweetie Belle appeared and bounced along behind them.

“Hey, guys! What’s up?”

They both turned around in surprise.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“Hey uh, nice sunhat,” Scootaloo said awkwardly.

“We were just about to come over and see if you were alright. … _Are_ ya?” Apple Bloom asked, sounding a little confused.

“Well, of course I am!” she answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well… we weren’t sure _what_ to think after that outburst you made yesterday,” said Scootaloo.

“Oh. …Right,” said Sweetie, remembering now what had happened at school yesterday. “That was— Something happened a few days ago that made me scream like that, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Everything’s fine now!”

“Are ya sure?”

“Yeah, and…” She hesitated for a moment, but then she sighed. “I just wanted to say that, I’m _really_ sorry about the way I’ve been acting the past week. I’ve just been dragging you down ever since we tried to run that paper route, and making you guys worry when I kept getting upset and yelling at everypony.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were both astonished at her apology, as tears started dripping down her eyes.

“I… I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys didn’t want me to be a Cutie Mark Crusader anymore. But, can you at least forgive me and still be my friends?”

But much to her surprise, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both ran up and hugged her. She lowered her sunhat and smiled as her cheeks flushed again.

“Of course we can forgive you, Sweetie Belle,” said Scootaloo. “You’ll always be our friend, no matter what.”

“And once a Cutie Mark Crusader, _always_ a Cutie Mark Crusader!” Apple Bloom added.

Sweetie Belle returned the hugs and began crying tears of joy.

“Thanks, you girls are the best friends ever!” After they broke away from their hug, Sweetie excitedly piped up again. “So, do you guys want to go out crusading for our Cutie Marks this weekend?”

“Totally!” said Scootaloo. “There’s still a lot of cool ideas I had from our last meeting that we never got to try!”

“Actually, ah was just thinking…” Apple Bloom chimed in. “Now that Sweetie Belle’s back with us, do ya think we should go back to Vinyl Scratch’s studio and try getting our special talents in music again?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie both pondered this suggestion.

“Nah!” Sweetie eventually responded.

“Yeah, what SB said! That just sounds lame. You know what _I_ think we might have a future in? White water rafting!”

The three of them all laughed, finally together as a trio of great friends again.

* * *

“Thanks for the help,” said Spike as he opened the library door for the bellhop that had assisted him with the bags.

“Hey, no problem,” he replied. “Well, I gotta catch the train back. See ya around in Canterlot again sometime!”

“Bye!” said Spike, as he watched the bellhop leave. As he did however, he finally noticed something odd in the yard. “Huh? Hey… what’s that over there?”

Curiously, he walked over to the sign in front of the library, and was in for quite a sight.

The blue roses that Sweetie Belle brought with her to the library, and then subsequently crushed in her anger, were still smacked against the sign. The flowers, which had already been beaten up, had long since wilted and were now starting to crumble as Spike peeled them off. The bouquet’s wrapping paper was also starting to erode in the grassy dew, but Spike noticed a small slip of paper still tucked inside of it.

It was crinkled up and the text was splotching, but it was still legible enough that Spike could make out what it said.

“For Spike?” he read aloud, perplexed. He started scratching his head. “Now… who would send me flowers?”

But his mind was pulled away as he noticed Fluttershy walking up towards the library.

“Oh! Hello, Spike,” she said. “I didn’t know you were back in Ponyville already.”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied. “I just got off the train this morning, and I’m about to get settled in again.”

“Oh, how nice. Well… Rarity cancelled out on our spa plans this morning,” she explained, with a hint of sadness in her voice. “So, since I had nothing else to do, I decided to come by the library and make sure Owloysius and Little Peewee were alright again.”

“Well thanks, Fluttershy!” said Spike. “But you don’t need to worry about that. I already checked on both of them while Celestia’s bellhop was bringing my bag in. They’re fine.”

“Oh… okay, then. Well, it’s great to see you back again. Why don’t you come by my cottage later and I’ll fix you some tea?”

“Sounds great,” he responded. “See you later, Fluttershy!” But just as he was about to turn around, he caught sight of the flowers. “Hey, Fluttershy!”

“Yes?”

“Do you know anything about these roses here?” He held up the decaying remains of the roses and the note that came with them.

“Oh, my goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed, rushing back over. She examined one of the withered flowers in her hoof. “What happened? Who would be so cruel as to crush up these roses and leave them here to rot?”

“Well, I think they came from Roseluck’s flower stand, because this is the kind of note that she always writes on her bouquets, and it says ‘For Spike’. Any idea who might’ve sent them here?”

“Well… not really,” Fluttershy answered meekly. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay...” He drooped his head down in disappointment.

“Although… I think these are actually Rarity’s favorite color of rose.”

Spike’s head shot back up.

* * *

Pinkie Pie was humming a soft tune to herself as she laid a tray of muffins into the oven. It was her way of making time fly while she helped the Cakes fill their orders on a busy Thursday.

After she set the time on the oven however, her tune stopped and she began to look somewhat mellow. Giving a sad sigh, she got to work kneading the cookie dough that was already on the counter.

Eventually, Rarity stepped into the living room.

“Alright Pinkie,” she said. “I got the blue flowers all hung up and the loft is looking most excellent. I think this is going to turn out smashing!”

“Huh?” said Pinkie Pie. “Oh. Yeah. That’s… that’s great, Rarity.”

Rarity immediately abandoned her smile. “Pinkie Pie, is something wrong? It isn’t like you to look so down in the muck.”

“I’m fine, Rarity. It’s just… I feel really bad,” Pinkie quietly admitted. “I ruined a friend’s trust. I broke their promise.”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?”

“Sweetie Belle,” she muttered. Rarity’s head perked up in curiosity. “You see… a few days ago, she came to me for advice. She wanted to ask me about Spike and how she had the super hots for him—”

_She even thought to go to Pinkie Pie before coming to me?_ Rarity thought. _My word. Just how much was Sweetie Belle afraid of my overreaction that she didn't even consider confiding with me, if at all?_

“And then, I was so excited when she finally told me about it, that… that…”

“That what?”

“That I accidentally broke the promise I made to Spike and told her that Spike had a crush on you!” Pinkie finally exclaimed, bawling. “He trusted me and I ruined his secret! I broke my Pinkie Swear!”

Rarity tried to gather what Pinkie had just said. She also looked as if something of interest had caught her eye. “You… made a Pinkie Swear to Spike that you wouldn’t tell anypony he was enamored with me?”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide.

“AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!”

Rarity was blown to the wall by Pinkie Pie’s sudden scream.

“Pinkie Pie, what in Equestria was that for? Why did you just—“

But before she could finish her sentence, Pinkie ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Don’t you see, Rarity? It just happened again!” Pinkie loudly stated. “I just blabbed out Spike’s secret _again_ , and I wasn’t even thinking about it just like before! And it’s not just that! When I bumped into you at the park! I had to really try not to break the promise I made to Sweetie Belle about not telling anypony that she was all goo-goo, gah-gah for Spike!”

“Why does this keep happening, Rarity? Why am I doing this? I never break my Pinkie promises!” She started shaking Rarity’s shoulders violently. “THIS JUST ISN’T RIGHT!”

“Well…” said Rarity, feeling overwhelmed and slightly dizzy. She pushed Pinkie’s hooves away gently and went back down to all fours. “Yo— you’re right. It _is_ significantly outside of your character to thoughtlessly break a promise or swear you made to a friend in a casual conversation.”

“I suppose… perhaps it’s been a busy week at the Sugarcube Corner and you’re just under a lot of stress? I know I get incredibly racked and start behaving rather oddly when I’ve become too overwhelmed by my commissions.”

“Hmm…” Pinkie responded. “Maybe... Or, maybe somepony _else_ is behind all of this!”

“Now, Pinkie, I really don’t think that—”

“Yes! I bet somepony is lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings so that everything happens according to his or her master plan! Maybe a mysterious new foe is plotting to destroy Ponyville, or… or maybe an old enemy is returning, seeking to plot out his revenge.”

Pinkie made an uncharacteristically evil grin at the end of her rant, one which made Rarity feel inexplicably uneasy.

“P-Pinkie Pie?”

“Nah, that just sounds silly!” said Pinkie Pie, suddenly reverting back to her usually cheery self. “Maybe you’re right, Rarity. Maybe I _am_ just a little pooped out from all the business here. Oh, well!”

She went back to kneading the dough, humming a happy tone once more. Rarity was still against the wall, confused about she had just witnessed.

_That was… most odd. It’s not like Pinkie to propose such a dark theory… But that’s not all I’m worried. Maybe it was just my imagination, but back there, when she was talking about Spike’s secret…_   
  
_Did her eyes turn gray for a second?_

* * *

“Thanks, come again,” said Roseluck as she handed a bouquet of yellow roses to a customer. He paid his bits and gladly left.

Just then, Spike came running up to her stand.

“Hi, Spike! What’s shaking?”

“Hey… Roseluck…” he said, still trying to catch his breath. “I was just… just wondering something. Has anyone around here asked you for a bouquet of blue roses in the past few days?”

“Hmm, well, a lot of ponies actually, since Hearts and Hooves Day was yesterday,” she answered. “Hang on, let me get my list of orders that were made.” She reached into her shelves and started reading through some sheets of paper.

“Let’s see now…” She started reading off all the names. “Thunderlane… Blossomforth… I think Heartstrings stopped by wanting to surprise Bon-Bon. I also have orders here from the Maestro, Lemony Snickets, my friend Daisy, Bright Blues, some strange pony with a tie who kept calling himself ‘the Doctor’, Sweetie Belle…”

“Sweetie Belle?”

“And uh… oh yeah! I think Rarity swung by a while ago asking for them too!”

Spike was flustered now.

_So… did those flowers come from Sweetie Belle or Rarity?_

“I think that’s everyone.”

“So…” Spike hesitated to ask, but finally he pulled up the crumpled note from Sweetie’s bouquet. “So, did any of those customers you mentioned… happened to ask you to write this?”

Roseluck gazed at the note, and reflected on her past customers.

“Hmm… oh, yeah! Now I remember! Blue roses, made out to you? Yup. Those came from Sweetie Belle.”

* * *

Later that day, Rarity had arrived home from planning at the Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie, and was now sewing a new dress on her machine to help ease her mind.

Sweetie Belle promptly came into the house and went into Rarity’s workroom, still eagerly bouncing up and down. She hung her sunhat on a rack near the door, set her saddlebags down, and ran up to her sister.

“Hi, Rarity!”

“Oh! Goodness, Sweetie Belle, you startled me,” said Rarity. “But that’s alright. How was your day today? Have you done something nice with all the bits I gave you already? Ooh, did you see Spike?”

“Yup!” she answered. “I watched him get off the train this morning! I didn’t talk to him though, because… well, I guess I’m a little nervous. He saw the note though!”

“Excellent! I did figure that you would still be a little nervous,” said Rarity. She flashed a coy smirk. “But I think the answer to your problems might come in three… two… one.”

A knock sounded at the door.

“I’ll get it!”

* * *

A huge stream of confetti burst out in front of Rarity and Sweetie Belle when they opened the door. Pinkie Pie was there, adorning the same confetti-popper outfit she wore when she once conducted a singing telegram in front of Applejack.

♪ _Oh, this is your singing telegram_  
 _For you, for you!_  
 _You see, I’ve arrived here with a message,_  
 _For you, for_ you _!_ ♪

She shot out two identical party invites which Rarity and Sweetie both caught from the air and began to read.

♪ _For there is a party happening,_  
 _Where else but the Sugarcube Corner?_  
 _Not a big party really, just a casual soirée_  
  
 _This party is going on tomorrow afternoon,_  
 _So bring a guest, bring five even! The sky’s the limit!_  
 _And RSVP and come and be our gueeeeeeesst!_ ♪

“Wow, a party?” said Sweetie, excitedly looking over the invitation. “Can we go, Rarity? Huh? Can we?”

“Hmm… well, _you_ can certainly attend, Sweetie,” said Rarity, trying to hide a smile. “However… I don’t think I myself will be able to make it. I have an ‘appointment’ at the spa tomorrow afternoon. I’m really sorry, Pinkie.” Unseen to Sweetie, she gave a wink to Pinkie, who then winked back.

“Oh, it’s okay, Rarity!” she cheerfully replied, taking back Rarity’s invite. “I’m inviting _all_ of our friends in Ponyville, so it won’t spoil the fun if one pony can’t make it! You’ll still come though, right, Sweetie Belle?”

“Can I?” Sweetie asked Rarity. She eagerly nodded. “YES!”

“Come on then, Sweetums,” said Rarity, nudging her inside. “You’d best start getting ready for it.”

“Huh?” replied Sweetie, confused. “But I thought Pinkie said it was just a casual party.”

“Oh, of course it is! But still, a lady must keep up her appearances. Just go inside and I’ll be there in a second.”

After Sweetie went back inside, Rarity and Pinkie winked at each other again, and they both giggled.

* * *

♪ _So bring a guest, bring five even! The sky’s the limit!_  
 _And RSVP and come and be our gueeee—_ ♪

But the last note was ruined by Pinkie’s exasperated coughing. “Wow. That’s a really hard note to recite more than once!”

She handed an invitation to Spike, having just performed her singing telegram at the library’s doorstep.

“A party, huh?” said Spike, reading the invite. “Wait, what did you say the special occasion was?”

“No occasion,” Pinkie responded. “It’s just a casual party for friends. It’s been at least a week since the last time I threw a party, and that’s far too long for anypony to go on without some partying in their lives!”

“Well, I’ll definitely be there,” said Spike. “I just finished tidying up the whole library, and I don’t have any other plans for tomorrow afternoon.”

“Great! See you in party central tomorrow afternoon!”

Spike waved good-bye, but drew a look of confusion when he heard Pinkie softly giggling to herself as she left.

_Hmm. Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, I guess._

* * *

The skies were painted a brilliant orange as Celestia’s sun slowly set over the horizon again. And a lone filly was walking down the meadow path by herself.

“’Spike, I love you.’ No, that won’t work. ‘Hey Spike, we’re really great friends, and… I was just wondering if you wanted to be my special somepony, or… dragon, I mean.’ No! That just sounds lame.”

“Say, Spike? You know that note that you got? Well, guess what? It’s me! I’m the one who…” She let out a loud grunt.

_I just don’t know what to say! I’m so nervous about this!_   
  
_What if he doesn’t like me back? Ohhh, I thought I wasn’t going to be thinking about that anymore! But I just keep thinking it anyway. What if he still likes Rarity instead? What if he rejects me? What if he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?_

Another loud grunt was let out.

“Howdy, Sweetie Belle! Been having some rough times lately, ah heard?”

Sweetie turned around to see that she had been walking past Sweet Apple Acres, and Applejack was there leaning against a fence.

“Oh. Hey, Applejack,” said Sweetie, walking over to the fence. “Um… how much did you hear?”

“Oh, not much,” she responded. “But AB told me yesterday that y’all have been in a real sour mood the past week. Everythin’ okay? You and Rarity ain’t a squallin’ again, are ya?”

“No,” said Sweetie. “But… it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Go on, then.”

“Well, you see…” She decided to use her old excuse again. “It’s just that one of my friends has this crush on a really handsome dra— I mean, pony. But there’s something wrong, because… because that pony also has a crush on my friend’s sister.”

“Uh, huh.”

“Yeah, and… I’m just not sure. What do you think I— I mean, my friend should do?”

Applejack stopped leaning over the fence and stood on all fours again.

“Well… ah’ve never been one for romance and love and all that junk. However, I know a thing or two about honesty. Because that’s what yer friend needs, SB. She needs to be honest with herself and with the pony she’s a-spotting out, and tell him how she feels. Even if he doesn’t like her back, she can rest assured knowin’ that she spoke with her heart and those two can still be friends.”

Wow…” said Sweetie. “That’s… amazing advice! Honesty. Yeah. Well, I’ll uh… I’ll go tell my ‘friend’ about what you said, and then maybe it’ll work out. Thanks for the advice, Applejack!”

“No problem!” Applejack replied. “Oh, hey Sweetie Belle!”

“Yeah?”

“Honestly, don’t worry yerself so much,” she said, giving a gentle smile. “You just wait and see. Spike’ll come around.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, and continued walking down the path. _Yeah. Maybe I should just be honest and tell Spike how I really feel. No matter what, we’ll still be friends, and…_  
  
 _Wait. How did Applejack know it was Spike?_

Applejack watched her walk away, and after she was gone, she leaned against the fence again and scoffed to herself.

_That’s some gosh darn tootin’ advice there, Applejack._

She caught sight of the pony Caramel, whom was trotting down the path in front of the farm, whistling a small tune. “Evenin’, Applejack!” he called.

_Now why can’t y’all use any of that advice yerself?_

* * *

Sweetie was still walking down the path back to Ponyville when she noticed something in front of her.

_Uh-oh! Here comes Spike! Uh… I’d better hide! I still don’t feel ready to talk to him just yet! I haven’t thought about what to say!_

She quickly hid in a nearby bush as Spike came walking down the path, clutching the anonymous note in his claw.

_He’s still looking at the note! Oh, this is so great!_   
  
_Wow… I forgot how cute he looks when he’s just walking along like that. Oh, Spike…_

“So… you _really_ do love me too, huh Rarity?”

_Yes, Spike! Yes I— Wait… what? Rarity?_

“At least, I hope this is you. It _is_ your handwriting...”

_What? But… But, I— The note— It was supposed— Ohh, man…_   
  
_Rarity!_

She ducked out of the bush, unseen by Spike, running back towards home with an angry look on her face.

“…but, does Sweetie Belle love me back too?” Spike wondered.

* * *

“ **RARITY!** ”

“Whoa-ohh!”

Sweetie’s sudden yell startled Rarity right out of her chair, and the dress she was stitching was torn apart in the wake.

“Sweetie Belle! Didn’t Mother ever teach you not to sneak up on other ponies like that?” said Rarity. She got up and presented the torn fabric to her sister. “Look what you’ve done to my new garment!”

“Don’t you try to talk your way out of this!” Sweetie snapped, grabbing the fabric and tossing it away. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“Just what are you talking about?”

“The note!” she screeched. “That note that you told me to write for Spike, but then asked to write for me? You _knew_ he was going to know it was your hoofwriting, didn’t you?”

“Oh, dear,” Rarity replied. “You mean… Spike believes the note to have been written by me as a gesture of requited feelings? Well, that’s—”

“Don’t act so innocent! I see what’s going on here now!” Sweetie yelled in Rarity’s face. “You love Spike too, and once you found out that _I_ had a crush on him, you tried to make sure that Spike was only going to hear it from you! HOW DARE YOU!”

“Sweetie Belle! That is very unladylike to make such unjustified accusations!”

“You know what else is ‘unladylike’? Tricking your own sister for your own selfish needs!” She was starting to cry. “I trusted you, Rarity! And then you used me! I was your… your… PAWN!”

“Sweetums, you weren’t a pawn. Where did you even learn that word?” asked Rarity, putting a hoof on Sweetie’s shoulder.

“Don’t call me ‘Sweetums’!” snapped Sweetie, swatting her hoof away. “Because guess what, sister? We’re not sisters anymore… again!”

She dashed up to her room as Rarity frantically followed her.

“Sweetie, please!” Rarity pleaded. “It’s not like that! If you would just listen to me—”

“No! I don’t want to talk to you ever again! Good night, UNSISTER!”

And then she slammed the door right in Rarity’s face. Instantly, Rarity started sobbing.

“What have I done? What HAVE I done?”


	10. ...Of All

Celestia’s sun rose once more, beginning what for now seemed like another ordinary day. Everyone was having a peaceful awakening in Ponyville, having experienced good, pleasant dreams in their sleep last night.

All except for one.

“No! No, please! Don’t do this to me! I promise I’ll be a good sister! I promise!”

The fashion designer tossed and turned violently in her sleep, her legs pushing Opal right off the bed. The cat bitterly hissed at her owner before retreating to the basket bed she so loathed.

“Just stay with me a little longer, we can work this all out! Please, Sweetie Belle! You don’t need to go live with mother and father in Fillydelphia! Just listen to me! Don’t hate me!”

She sat up in bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. “NOOOOOOOOOO!”

Removing the blindfold over her eyes, Rarity was sweating heavily and her breathing was irregular. She felt her heartbeat and waited a few moments until she felt calm.

She turned next to her, where she had a photo of herself and Sweetie Belle. She was playfully nuzzling Sweetie’s mane in the picture, and they were both laughing.

Rarity grabbed the picture, held it close to her heart, and started sniffling profusely, trying to hold back a wild stream of tears, with little success.

“Sweetie Belle… please don’t leave me.”

* * *

A short while later, she was standing in front of her mirror. Her mane was still disheveled and she hadn’t even bothered to put on any makeup this morning.

“Well, Rarity. That looks like somepony took a rats’ nest, dyed it purple, and stuck it over your head.” She gazed at her messy mane for a few seconds, but then sighed and looked down to the floor. “Oh, what does it even matter? Sweetie Belle hates me now.”

A single tear dropped from her right eye and made a splash on the ground. She even punched the mirror in her hurt, barely not throwing a punch strong enough to crack it.

“You are such an idiot, Rarity!” she yelled at her reflection. “’Let me write that note for you…’ You should’ve accounted for Spike recognizing your hoofwriting, you foal! You tried to help, but now you’ve just ruined everything…”

She smeared her head along the mirror, still trying to hold back tears.

“I suppose I’ll have to make my own breakfast this morning, and Sweetie Belle’s too. That is, if she’s even willing to eat anything that _I_ make.”

She glumly started to walk down the stairway to the kitchen, still mentally beating herself up.

“I’m a terrible sister…” She muttered to herself.

“I’m a terrible sister…” came a voice from downstairs.

Lifting her head up in sudden intrigue, Rarity hasted up her walking and curiously peeked into the kitchen, and saw something she was not expecting.

A stack of hot buttered pancakes greeted her on the kitchen table, complimented with a plate of fried eggs and a tall glass of orange juice.

Also on the kitchen table was her sister. She was completely face-down on the table and crying profusely. She would take a second’s break in-between the crying to smack the table with her hoof. Rarity gently walked over and laid a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s back, stroking it.

“Sweetie Belle…”

“I’m sorry,” she muffled.

“What was that?”

Sweetie lifted her head up, and started crying into her sister’s neck.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that you were trying to get Spike to love you instead of me without asking you first! I don’t know what I was thinking! I was just so angry! But then…but then, I heard you crying after I slammed the door, and then I had a really bad dream and…”

She sniffled deeply. “I’m so sorry, Rarity. Please don’t kick me out. Please don’t— please don’t hate me.”

Rarity was stunned to hear this. _She’s… been afraid of the exact same thing that I was. Being abandoned by her own sister…_

Rarity hugged Sweetie tight. “Sweetums, how could I ever hate you? I wouldn’t kick you out of this house forever no matter _what_ you did. I love you, Sweetie Belle. And love prevails, always and forever.”

“I love you too, Rarity.” They both sat down at the table. “So, are you going to eat this breakfast I made for you?”

“Of course I am,” Rarity responded. “Sweetie Belle… I should’ve let you written that note.”

“No…” Sweetie responded. “I couldn’t write it.”

“Why not?”

“Because… because I still can’t use magic yet.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Sweetie,” Rarity reassured. “That’s perfectly fine. It takes time to learn magic, like getting a Cutie Mark. You’ll be able to use magic in good time.”

“Yeah, right,” she dully responded.

“Sweetie Belle, can you promise me something?”

“What kind of promise?” Sweetie asked, confused.

“Promise that you’ll never hate me again? I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified in my life.”

She took a bite out of Sweetie’s homemade pancakes. For once, they tasted absolutely delicious.

* * *

Inside the library, Spike stood at the top of a ladder as he very carefully polished the ocean blue sapphire, still perched atop its shelf. He was wearing a pair of orange, pointed shades now to shield himself from the gem’s blinding glow.

“There you go,” he softly cooed to the gem. “No more dust, all nice and clean now.”

He smiled as he gazed at the sapphire. The most beautiful gem in the world, and ironically, the one he could never eat.

However, seeing the sapphire also brought him sadness, because looking at it reminded him of his double dilemma.

“Sweetie Belle…”

He then turned around. The dresser he shared with Twilight was open, and on its top shelf lay the bedazzled red bow-tie that Rarity had given him on the night of that centennial meteor shower.

“Rarity…”

The two items were virtually on opposite sides of the room, forcing Spike to keep looking back and forth between them. He pulled out the two simple notes. Rarity’s anonymous note and the note attached to Sweetie Belle’s flowers.

_This is it. Pinkie Pie’s casual party is today, and no doubt they’re probably both going to be there. So it needs to be now. I need to choose now._   
  
_Rarity… or Sweetie Belle? Hmmph._

A small chirp sounded, and pulled Spike out of his thoughts. Little Peewee, the baby phoenix that Spike had rescued from a gang of teenage dragons on his quest of self-purpose, flittered into the room, trying desperately to stay in the air.

However, just as he reached Spike’s feet, he lost his balance and ended up tumbling to the ground.

“Aww, hey, Peewee,” said Spike, allowing the tiny bird to perch on his claw. “Don’t worry, You’ll get the hang of it eventually. Now, back to _my_ problem… who am I going to choose? Rarity, or Sweetie Belle? What do _you_ think?”

Peewee was silent for a moment, but then he chirped happily. He gathered all of his strength to fly up, before finally perching down on one of the two objects.

“Of course…” said Spike, as he noticed which item Peewee had decided to perch on.

A faint smile went across his lips.

* * *

“Alright, Sweetie Belle. You’ve gotta go all out this time! Because this time, it’s for _real_.”

Inside her bedroom, Sweetie Belle stood on her stool, putting on makeup in front of Rarity’s bedroom mirror. Rarity had helped gloss her hair again this morning, and her hair was done up in beads much like it had a few days ago when Sweetie was planning to charm Spike into requision.

Unlike that previous day however, Sweetie was doing this with Rarity’s full knowledge and encouragement, and thus had been given full access to her sister’s vanity and ensemble.

The major differences here were that she decided not to wear eyeshadow, or the blue dress. She didn’t find either to be necessary for what was supposedly just a casual party, and Rarity was also intending to have the dress cleaned.

_This is much easier to do when I don’t have to keep it a secret. I’m… still not sure why she wanted me to make myself look ‘presentable’ for just one of Pinkie’s casual parties. But if I have to, I guess I might as well try to make this as perfect as possible…_

“Oww!” she yelped, as she plucked her eyelashes. _After a whole month of lessons from Rarity, you’d think that doing my appearance wouldn’t be so painful…_

After she finished plucking, she gazed over to the cherry red lipstick bottle that lay at the edge of the table.

_Hmm… I’m not going to wear any lipstick tonight, but maybe…_

She scrunched her eyes shut and began trying to focus once more at using her magic to levitate the lipstick bottle. Once again, she pushed and concentrated as hard as she could, focusing on channeling all the energy in her horn.

Just as before, the bottle levitated slightly as a glow surrounded it, and her horn. This time however, she was finally beginning to manipulate it, moving it in the air across the table and slowly off of the table.

She opened one eye and smiled with glee at her improvement, but then this breach of concentration immediately halted the process, and the glass bottle shattered upon hitting the ground.

“Oh, no…” She murmured. “Well, at least it didn’t—“

And then the lipstick bottle spontaneously combusted.

“AAAAGGHHH!”

* * *

About an hour later, Sweetie was on her way to Sugarcube Corner, as Celestia’s sunset painted Ponyville a mix of orange and purple tints.

Little did the filly know that she was being watched from afar.

“Well, that’s certainly not too shabby. I wish she had gone all the way with the eyeshadow and lipstick and what-have-you, but that’s still an effective presentation, if I do say so myself.”

Rarity was inspecting her younger sister’s appearance through a telescope on the balcony of the Sugarcube Corner’s highest floor. Once she was done judging, she scrambled back down to the first floor and into the kitchen, where Pinkie was still preparing a minimal selection of cupcakes.

“Alright. Sweetie Belle’s on her way now, and she’s done her appearance up like I asked her to. Has Spike arrived yet?”

“Nope!” Pinkie replied. “At least, I haven’t heard him come in. He might’ve come in without me hearing him, but that’s just silly! Why would anypony walk in without making any noise unless they were sneaking around?”

“Right… so, how are the treats coming?” asked Rarity, hastily changing the subject. “Remember not to give the selection too much thought, considering how meager of a turnout we’re expecting…”

“Don’t worry, I know! This is nowhere near the amount of cupcakes I usually make!” said Pinkie. “I just have to put them in the oven, and they’ll be in the room with the other snacks!”

“ _Other_ snacks?”

“Yeah! I got carrots, celery, chips, dip, cheese and crackers, and punch! Lots and lots of delicious grape punch!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. _I warned her not to go overboard with the snacks…_ “By the way, the Cakes aren’t here, are they?”

“Nope! The Cakes are spending the weekend in Fillydelphia and they asked me to watch the Corner for them. I told them to tell your parents that you and Sweetie Belle said hi and that you hope they come down for a visit soon!”

“Oh… joy.”

* * *

Spike was the first to arrive.

He stepped through the doors, only to appear stunned when he walked into the main party room of Sugarcube Corner.

Blue roses were strung over the walls and balloons adorned both corners of the room. The smaller tables had been cleared to account for a very roomy party. The larger tables had a pink tablecloth draped over them and were adorned with the different varieties of snacks Pinkie had mentioned earlier. Finally, candles were lit all over the room, both to light up the room when as the sky grew darker, and unknowingly to Spike, to provide a subtle romantic atmosphere…

There was one thing about this party that stuck out the most though, and that was… how absolutely empty the room was. No one else had shown up for the party yet except for Spike, and Pinkie was still in the kitchen with Rarity.

“Um… hello? Where _is_ everypony?”

“Hey, Spike!” said Pinkie, bursting through the kitchen doors. “Gosh, you’re here early! Welcome to the party!”

“Early?” Spike repeated, confusedly looking at the clock. “I thought the invite said that the party starts at 7:30.”

“Well of course it does.” Pinkie leaned in close to Spike’s face with a sly curve of eyebrows. “But didn’t you know, Spike? At a casual party, everypony usually arrives fashionably _late_.”

* * *

Sweetie Belle trotted up to the Corner. Before she did however, she decided to do one last checkup of her appearance.

“Alright. Mane? Check. Eyebrows? Check. Makeup and blush? Check… I think.” She then chuckled to herself. “Wow, I’m really starting to sound just like my sis…”

Sweetie walked through the doors, and was instantly wide-eyed by what she saw, or rather who. There he was, around the center of the room, eating some crackers. Nopony else but him. And he was looking right at her.

_SPIKE._

“The eagle has landed,” Pinkie observed.

* * *

_Where is everypony else? Why is only Spike here? Didn’t Pinkie invite anypony else? What am I going to do_ now _?!_

_I can’t run away_ now _! But there’s nopony else to talk to! I was ready to maybe tell Spike how I felt about him tonight… but not like this! Not so suddenly! How is this happening?_

Meanwhile, Spike was having his own rush of thoughts.

_Sweetie Belle? But… where’s Rarity? Shouldn’t she have come with her? Didn’t Pinkie invite both Sweetie Belle_ and _Rarity? Better yet, didn’t Pinkie invite_ ** _anyone_** _else besides Sweetie Belle? It’s ten minutes past 7:30 now, and still nopony’s arrived but her! How is this happening?_

Sweetie hesitated to move any closer. She was still shocked to suddenly be in an empty room with Spike, when she was expecting a full-blown party.

_He’s staring right at me. Oh, I don’t know how to handle this!_

_Although… it’s been so long since I last saw him this close. I almost forgot how cute he looks. He’s just standing there. Munching on that cracker. Like, like such a gentleman. And those sparkly green eyes…_   


_Well, she made herself look nice, at least. Nice mane._

The awkward silence was broken as Pinkie burst through the doors open.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle!” she shouted, dashing over to the startled filly. “Glad you could make it! Say, you didn’t happen to see anypony else heading here on your way over, did you?”

“Not… really. At least, I don’t think so.”

“Huh, how strange,” she responded, trying to sell a convincing reaction. “I invited all of my closest friends here! Maybe they’re arriving so fashionably late that they’re not going to come until _after_ the party! Then again, a lot of them did say they wouldn’t be able to make it, like Rainbow, and Applejack, and Rarity…”

“Hey, where _is_ Rarity?” asked Spike upon hearing her name.

_Of course you’d want to see her…_ Sweetie bitterly thought.

“Oh, she’s right in the ki—” But then she looked over to see Rarity giving her the throat slide gesture. “I mean… she said that she wasn’t going to be here because of an appointment at the spa! Right, Sweetie?” Sweetie nodded in affirmation.

“Right! So…” Much to their startlement and nervousness, she then pushed the two of them closer together by the punch table. “Why don’t you two just stand right there and mingle, until some other guests show up, huh?”

She then dashed back into the kitchen with Rarity, leaving Sweetie Belle and Spike alone. They both stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.

_I haven’t talked to Spike since I gave him that sapphire and ran away! Oh, that was so embarrassing! What am I supposed to say? ‘Spike, I love you.’ Yeah, that’ll definitely scare him right out of here!_   


_Hey… she plucked her eyelashes just like Rarity would._

After a long silence…

“…Hi,” Sweetie Belle finally uttered.

“Hello.”

“H-how… how was Canterlot?”

“Oh, it was fine, yeah. It was fine,” Spike answered. “Yeah… um, I got to see some old friends. Hung out with Twilight’s parents. And… went to the sculpture garden.”

“Oh, the sculpture garden,” Sweetie responded. “Yeah, we… went there once. For a class field trip.”

“Hm, neat.”

“So… how’s the sapphire doing? The one I gave you before?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” Spike replied. “It’s doing fine. You know. I haven’t really… haven’t really eaten it yet. But, I did just polish it this morning, so… yeah.”

“Right.”

Another awkward silence followed. Sweetie shuffled her hoof on the ground, while Spike leaned back and forth. Finally, Sweetie looked at the punch behind her and began to pour a glass for Spike.

“Would you… like some punch?”

“Sure,” he said. After he accepted his glass and started drinking, Sweetie poured herself a glass. “Wow. Pinkie sure outdid herself on this punch.”

Sweetie took a sip. “Yeah, you’re right. I wonder what kind of grapes she used…”

* * *

Pinkie Pie groaned. She and Rarity had been watching the whole scene from the window.

“This is taking way too long Rarity, and nothing’s happening! They’re just standing there… TALKING! Where’s all the romance and the kissy-kissies?”

Rarity tried to calm her. “Pinkie… you’re being too impatient. If you would just keep calm and wait for them to break out of their—”

“I knew I should have called in the big guns for this party!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Looks like it’s time for Plan B!”

“And… what’s Plan B?” asked Rarity, concerned.

Pinkie burst out of the doors and triumphantly locked eyes at the two. “Get ready to shake those hips and bust out your best moves everypony because it’s time to DANCE!”

She excitedly slammed a button on the wall labeled “INSTANT DJ PON-3”. A set of turntables and basses quickly appeared out of the floor, with Vinyl Scratch at the helm.

“Let’s spin this shizzle!”

Loud dubstep dance music started playing, as a disco ball lowered from the ceiling and cast light all over the room. Sweetie Belle looked quite alienated at this entire sight.

_Oh, no. Please don’t tell me she’s going to…_

“Hey, you two!” said Pinkie, cutting in between them. “Since you’re the only two guests that arrived, maybe you should share this dance!”

They both looked at each other wide-eyed.

_Is it just me, or did Pinkie plan this whole party as a trap…?_

“But… I don’t know how to dance!” Sweetie whined.

“I can dance pretty good by myself,” mused Spike. “But I’ve never really danced with a pony before.”

“Well, it’s easy! You just gotta stand on two legs, hold each other in your arms, and just start slowly moving back and forth!” She forced Sweetie and Spike into the positions as she described them.

They shifted awkward glances at each other and started trying to move like Pinkie said.

“Oww, my foot!” Spike yelped.

“Sorry, I wasn’t— Whoa-whoa!”

Sweetie quickly lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, dragging Spike down with her.

“Ohh, my leg…” groaned Spike. “I don’t think I can dance anymore…”

“Me neither. Oww…” groaned Sweetie as well.

Pinkie made a frown of dismay and increasing anxiety. She dashed back into the kitchen, headed upstairs, and started searching through her room, much to Rarity’s astonishment.

“Come on! Where is it? Where is it? … AHA!”

She came back down with two small glasses containing a bubbling pink liquid. It very strikingly resembled the love potion/poison that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had used on Cheerilee and Big Macintosh on last year’s Hearts and Hooves Day.

“Pinkie Pie…” Rarity began. “What are you—“

But Pinkie whizzed out the door before she could finish and set the two glasses down in front of Spike and Sweetie, both struggling to stand back up.

“How about some punch?” She asked them with a wide grin on her face, leaning in to theirs a little too close for comfort.

“Uhh… no thanks,” replied Sweetie. “I think I’ve had enough punch.” _Why does this ‘punch’ look so familiar?_

“Yeah, me too,” said Spike. “Thanks anyway, Pinkie.”

Pinkie’s eye twitched, still keeping a wide grin. Suddenly, she bolted out of Sugarcube Corner completely.

After a few seconds, Berryshine’s voice was heard. “AAAHHH! PINKIE PIE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET BACK HERE!”

Pinkie hastily ran back in, clutching a green wine bottle. By this point, her mane was becoming quite defrazzled. She sat next to the two of them making a circle, and placed the bottle between them.

“Hey, everypony! Who wants to play spin the bottle?” She asked, with a clear hint of unhinging in her voice. Rarity facehoofed from inside the kitchen.

Sweetie and Spike both stared at the bottle before both looking up at Pinkie innocently.

“Um… how do you _play_ spin the bottle, exactly?” Spike finally asked.

Just then, a very enraged Berryshine burst into the confectionery shop.

“Aha! There you are!” She grabbed the bottle and hit Pinkie over the head with it. “Steal from my cellar again and I’ll give you the ONE-TWO!” she threatened on her way out.

A cartoonish bump appeared on Pinkie’s head. “Okie… dokie… loki…”

Sweetie Belle leaned close to her. “Um, Pinkie Pie, are you—“

“THAT’S IT! NO MORE GAMES!” she suddenly yelled. Her messy mane and erratically-shaped pupils were giving her a frighteningly mad appearance. “YOU TWO! KISS! EMBRACE! SPECIAL SOME-WHATEVERS! **NOW!** ”

She forcefully pulled their heads in close, only to make the two of them bonk their heads against each other and fall to the floor.

“OWW!”

“Pinkie Pie, what was _that_ for?” asked Spike, rubbing his head.

Pinkie Pie finally slumped to the floor in defeat.

“Oh… I give up. Party’s over.”

“What?” they both cried.

She slumped over towards the kitchen and pushed the “INSTANT DJ PON-3” button again, causing Vinyl, her systems, and the disco ball to retract again.

“Just go home. I’m super-duper sorry I wasted your time…” And she walked back into the kitchen, hanging her head down. Rarity rubbed her mane in empathy.

* * *

Sweetie and Spike gazed at each other once more. Their mutual sympathy for Pinkie Pie and general confusion as to what just happened took precedence over everything else, so they both simultaneously headed for the door, thinking nothing of it.

When they opened it however, they were in for quite a sight. It was suddenly raining cats and dogs outside. Gray storm clouds completely covered the night sky as a thick sheet of precipitation trickled down.

“Oh, no…” Sweetie bemoaned. “I didn’t know it was going to rain! My house is all the way on the other side of Ponyville! My mane'll be completely soaked by the time I get home.”

Rarity handed a frilled purple umbrella to Pinkie Pie. “Here. Give her this.”

Pinkie took the umbrella and walked back out, handing it to them. “Here, Sweetie.”

“Hey… isn’t that Rarity’s umbrella?” Sweetie observed, pointing at it.

“Uh… oh yeah! She let me borrow it once and I forgot to give it back,” Pinkie lied. “Now you can give it back to her when you get home!”

Sweetie accepted the umbrella and Pinkie went back into the kitchen, still moping.

“It’s still a long walk back,” Sweetie deplored. “I could catch a cold on my way home.”

“Yeah, and I don’t have an umbrella to take with me,” said Spike. He thought for a second. “Hey, I have an idea! How about you come and spend the night with me?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. Twilight’s not coming back from Canterlot until tomorrow, and the library is much closer to Sugarcube Corner than the Carousel Boutique!”

“I…” Sweetie was taken aback by this generous offer. “Well, I— I guess I could. I mean, Rarity said she might not be back until the morning, so I wouldn’t need to ask her permission… SURE!”

Spike took the umbrella from her and held it out so that it covered both of their heads as they walked out into the heavy rain outside.

Back in the kitchen, Rarity was still consoling Pinkie. “It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. We tried… and we failed.”

“Yeah… I guess now they’ll never be together forever.”

* * *

The two children started to pass by the Ponyville park on the road leading back to Twilight and Spike’s house. Everypony else had gone inside already, so there was nopony else in the park besides the two of them.

Sweetie Belle and Spike were keeping silent as they walked underneath the shielding of Rarity’s umbrella. Sweetie was constantly turning away from Spike, because being this close to him was making her blush intensely. But at the same time, she kept fighting temptation and looking back at him again, and becoming entranced.

_I’ve never seen him this close before. His cheeks, that nose… The way he’s just looking straight ahead. And he’s holding that umbrella for me, like such a gentleman…_   
  
_Oh no, don’t look at me!_

“Um Sweetie Belle, are you… okay?” asked Spike, when he turned to Sweetie and saw her staring at him.

“Huh? What?” She had become lost in his eyes. “I— Nothing. I’m fine. Really. Don’t worry about me.”

_I wasn’t even thinking about this. It’s going to be so weird spending the night with Spike! But I can’t change my mind now! Ohhhhh…_

“Hey, Sweetie Belle…” said Spike, tapping her shoulder. “Look at that!”

“Huh?”

Spike was pointing at a very unusual sight. On top of the highest hill in the park, a single beam of light was filtering down. There was a hole in the clouds directly over the hill, and in that one spot, the rain wasn’t coming down at all.

They both gave in to their curiosity and walked over and climbed to the top of the hill, underneath the hole in the cloud.

“That is… magical,” said Sweetie.

Spike put down his umbrella since they were no longer under the immense wall of rain, and they both looked up into the sky.

“That’s just… amazing,” said Spike.

Luna’s moon was directly over the hole in the cloud, shining down at the dry spot on the hill. The hole was also large enough that they could clearly see some of the stars.

“Hey! I know those constellations!” Sweetie suddenly piped.

“Huh?”

“Twilight told us about all the constellations the night we went to see that meteor shower, remember?” Then she realized. “Oh… that’s right. You fell asleep during that.”

“Yeah,” he begrudgingly responded.

“Twilight said that those two constellations are two ponies that were in love long ago, and that one of them used to be Luna’s student. She said that their names were, um… Stevie Tock and Lilac… something?”

“Sepia Tock and Lilac Candescence?” Spike corrected, remembering Princess Luna’s story.

“Yeah! Hey, how did _you_ know their names?”

“Uh, long story.”

“But… something’s weird,” she said, looking at the constellations further.

“What do you mean?”

“Those two constellations are… in a different spot than they are on that other night. Can constellations move like that?”

All at once, it became clear to Spike. The stars had been rearranged, and somepony had deliberately made this hole in the clouds, right underneath the shining moon.

Slowly, Sweetie began to draw similar conclusions. Why the rain wasn’t touching this, the highest hill in the park, where they were closet to the moon. And why there were constellations of two ponies in love.

Spike and Sweetie Belle both turned to each other. Their eyes both glistened.

“I have to tell you something!” They both proclaimed at the same time. “What? You go first. No, you. No, you! NO, YOU!”

They both grunted in frustration, before finally…

“I LOVE YOU!”

...

“WHAT?!”

“B-but, I thought you loved Rarity!” Sweetie exclaimed, somewhat at a loss for words. “I saw you with that note! And then you thought it was from Rarity! I HEARD YOU!”

“I-I only said that because… because I saw the handwriting and thought it was written by her,” Spike stammered. “But the real truth is… ever since you gave me that gem, I’ve been thinking a lot. About who I love more. And just today, I decided..”

Sweetie’s eyes welled up with tears.

“…that it’s you. I love _you_ , Sweetie Belle.”

“Spike…”

“But, I don’t understand,” he began. “How long have you—”

“Oh, just kiss me now, Spike!”

And then their lips both met. It was a simple yet passionate kiss. There wasn’t a lot of tongue action involved, but instead it was a more innocent and basic duck-face lips-touching sort of a kiss. Tears ran down both of their cheeks, all of the angst and longing… was finally gone.

Eventually, both of them somehow began levitating a millimeter off of the ground, and Sweetie Belle’s horn started to charge with a very distinct aura of dark blue magic surrounding it. Finally, they went deeper into the kiss and touched noses.

And that caused the spark. All at once, a sudden burst of magic energy expelled from Sweetie’s horn, shooting up into the sky. It flew up into the sky above the clouds, and once it finally looked like it was about to touch the moon, it exploded into bright fireworks, that lit up the entire sky around the park.

It was purely magical.

* * *

“Honestly though, this is most peculiar,” said Rarity, looking up at the storm clouds. “Nopony said anything about a rainstorm happening tonight at all. Surely, this wasn’t scheduled…”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both walking down the road to Twilight’s house, mainly to check and make sure Sweetie Belle and Spike had it there safely. Pinkie Pie adorned her iconic umbrella hat, while Rarity was wearing her umbrella-capped saddle and purple raincoat.

“Maybe they decided to make it a surprise,” Pinkie Pie suggested, still sounding a tad mellow. “Surprises usually make me happy.”

“I suppose… but a surprise rainstorm? Still seems somewhat out of the blue. One would think they’d let us know ahead of time so we can pull down the loose branches. Of course, it’s not a thunderstorm, so I guess it would’ve been quite frivolous—”

“Hey, Rarity, look!” said Pinkie Pie. “We’re just in time for the Equestria Day Festival!”

She pointed off in the distance, where the fireworks could be seen erupting from the park. The dazzling lights made the shapes of hearts, blue gemstones, and the two constellations of Sepia and Lilac in the sky.

“What in the world…?” she murmured.

“Pinkie Pie! Rarity! You’ve got to come see this!”

Fluttershy was standing in front of the fence surrounding the park, dressed in her yellow raincoat. She had been watching the spectacle from afar, and took her hat off when the rain stopped pouring over her.

“Fluttershy darling, what are you doing here?” asked Rarity, with a face of concern. “You’ll catch a cold being out here for so long in this… rain?” It was only then she noticed that the rain clouds were clear over the park, having been pushed away by Sweetie Belle’s fireworks.

Rarity and Pinkie both gazed in amazement, and then huge grins stretched across their faces when they drew their eyes to the epicenter of the light show, and saw a small filly and a baby… no, young dragon floating above the ground, their eyes both glowing white as the sun, and the blue magic continuing to stream from Sweetie’s horn.

“How… ironic,” Rarity noted, her eyes sparkling at the sight. “We didn’t even have to do anything. They found the click, all by themselves.”

“And all they needed in order to find it was to be by themselves,” Pinkie realized. She turned to Rarity in remorse. “Rarity, I’m sorry. We should’ve let them find the magic on their own, instead of trying to egg them on with a fake party.” Rarity nodded in solemn agreement.

“It wouldn’t matter even if I did catch a cold out here,” said Fluttershy, answering Pinkie’s earlier question. “Just seeing this wondrous moment of love is such a magical experience, and gives me hope that one day I’ll finally be able to share my real feelings with—”

But then she looked to her left and saw that Rarity was standing right next to her. “EEP!”

* * *

“Huh?”

Sweetie Belle caught wind of Fluttershy’s loud ‘EEP’, and broke away from Spike. This effectively ended her magic burst and the fireworks show, and brought them back down to the ground.

“Hey!” she yelled when she saw Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy at the fence.

“Oops,” said Fluttershy. “I’m such a loudmouth…”

Sweetie quickly ran down the hill and met the three ponies with angry eyes. “Were you guys spying on us? That’s very rude, you know!”

Rarity spoke first. “We’re sorry, Sweetie. But honestly, we just came about a few moments ago. Pinkie and I were already on our way to make sure you had gotten home safely, and then…”

“…and then we saw the big fireworks show and Fluttershy was here and we just had to come here and see what all the jimmy-jammy-jamboree was all about!”

“Fireworks?” Sweetie asked, tilting her head. “What fireworks? Is it Equestria Day already?”

The three of them looked at each other and stiffened some giggles.

“Wait… how much did you guys hear?”

“Just the kiss,” Rarity answered. She then dragged Sweetie close and embraced her. “And I’m so proud of you, Sweetums.”

“Aww, thanks!” She looked back at Spike, and then at the trio. “Well… it’s a good thing I already told all you guys about Spike. That would’ve been embarrassing if it were anypony else.”

“Why?” asked Pinkie. “What’s so embarrassing about the Equestria Day Festival?” Fluttershy and Rarity both rolled their eyes.

“Hey, sis?” said Sweetie. “So I was just wondering, am I allowed to—”

“…spend the night at the library?” Rarity finished. “Of course you can. You’re growing up to be a big filly now. Just as long as you both get your sleep.”

“We will. I promise.”

Rarity gave her sister a gentle kiss on the forehead. As she did this, Fluttershy’s cheeks began to flush red.

“Hey Fluttershy, you okay?” asked Pinkie.

“Oh, yes, I’m… fine,” she meekly responded.

“I think someone’s waiting for you, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity put a hoof on Sweetie’s chest, and gestured her head towards Spike. “Go to him. Oh, and do give him my sincerest apologies that things never worked out between us.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” she said quietly, as a happy tear ran down her right cheek. “For everything.”

* * *

A short while later, Sweetie Belle and Spike were lying on the grass at the top of the hill. The hole in the clouds was starting to shrink again, but Sweetie and Spike had decided to stay in the park for just a few more minutes.

They both gazed up at the night sky. At the moon. At the stars, and the constellations of Lilac Candescence and her lover Sepia Tock. And at another celestial body that passed over them.

“You know,” Sweetie noted. “I still don’t get where this hole in the cloud ever came from.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it. I— Hey look, a shooting star!” said Spike, pointing up at the sky. “Are you going to make a wish?”

“Why should I?” Sweetie responded. “Right now, I got everything I could ever want.”

Touched by this answer, Spike took Sweetie’s hoof in his hand and they both smiled at each other.

And from up in the clouds, peeking out from the edge of the hole to the skies, a certain cyan pegasus was watching the whole scene.

“Well… I’m glad I was able help make somepony _else_ happy,” Rainbow Dash mused to herself. But then she froze when she noticed a familiar shadow rushing over her.

Spike looked up to see the Princess of the Night, flying in until she was directly in front of the moon.

Sweetie Belle was astonished. “Hey, isn’t that…”

Princess Luna shot a wink at Spike. Spike winked back, and she flew away leaving a trail of sparkles in her path. They trickled down upon Spike and Sweetie Belle, creating yet another magical scene.

They turned to each other, and a final round of tears welled up, as they looked into each other’s eyes and smiled intently, the warmth surging over both of their bodies, their hearts finally whole and complete.

“I love you, Spike.”

“I love you too, Sweetie Belle.”

And that was the sweetest gem of all.


	11. Epilogue

The rain was letting up by the time by the time Sweetie Belle and Spike made it back to the library, Rainbow Dash’s storm having done its job.

“…and then she got so mad about her sewing machine that she stepped on Opal, and she just started scratching Rarity’s hair like a mad cat! I had to go get Fluttershy to help pry her off!”

Spike laughed in uproar as he and Sweetie Belle sat on Twilight’s bed, having the chance to engage in a comfortable conversation for the first time in a while.

“You know, that reminds me of the time that— Hey, is something wrong, Sweetie?”

Sweetie was shielding her eyes with her hoof. “Nothing, it’s just… that sapphire is really bright from this angle.”

The ocean blue sapphire gleamed down upon the two lovers from its high shelf. Little Peewee was still asleep on top of it.

“Hey, Spike… I’ve been wanting to know something. Why _did_ you put the sapphire up there?”

“Huh? Oh…” He looked up at the gem as he reflected. “Well, I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. So, I decided to keep it as a little trinket. I put it up on the shelf because it was somewhere where I could always look up at it without it being in the way.” He squinted his eyes as the glare cast on him now. “AAGH! Although… maybe I should move it somewhere else.”

Sweetie giggled. _It’s these cute moments of his that I really like…_

“Hang on a minute.” Spike turned back to her. “What do you mean, you’ve _been_ wanting to know? When have you ever been in here and seen it up there?”

“Oh! Um, I…” She looked down in guilt, and sighed. “I take it you saw the blue roses outside…” Spike nodded. “I went up to your house the first day you were gone to give them to you, and I saw the sapphire when I went up to your bedroom, and the…”

“And the what?”

“And the… drawings of Rarity.”

Now it was Spike’s turn to look guilty. “Oh… yeah. I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle. It’s just, because up until I realized I loved you, I had a crush on Rarity, like you said.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Hmm.”

“And _she_ knows.”

“Wait, what?” Spike replied, hastily looking up. “She does?”

“Yeah. My sis knew that you had a crush on her too,” Sweetie affirmed. “Oh, yeah! She actually told me to tell you, that she’s really sorry things didn’t work out.”

“Eh… it’s okay,” said Spike, with a soft but remorseful smile. “Besides, I got someone better.” Sweetie’s cheeks blushed a deep shade of red.

“So… now I want to know something,” he continued. “How long?”

“How long _what_?”

“How long have you, you know…”

“Oh.” Sweetie closed her eyes, and smiled in remembrance. “It was that flower.”

“Huh? What flower?”

“Remember when you were picking up those blue roses for Fluttershy’s birthday, and then you bumped into me and spilled them all?” Spike nodded. “You had an extra flower then, and you gave it to me. And it was… really sweet. Ever since then, I kept thinking about you, and how sweet _you_ are.”

Spike tried to hold back his chuckling. “Really? Just a simple flower? It didn’t really mean anything to me—”

“Well, it meant the whole world to _me_!” Sweetie snapped, clearly offended by Spike’s response.

“Whoa, sorry.”

She sighed. “It’s okay. But… that flower used to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever given me.”

“Used to be?” Spike repeated. “What’s the sweetest thing anyone’s given you now?”

“This.”

She gave Spike another soft kiss, one which made both of them blush. A short silence followed, which was finally broken when Spike made a loud sneeze.

“Oh, my goodness!” said Sweetie Belle. She levitated a box of tissues in front of Spike. “Here you go, Spike!”

“Thanks, I— Hey, I didn’t know you could do magic!”

“Huh?” She made a happy gasp then. Her horn was casting a cobalt blue glow, and so was the box of tissues that floated in front of them. “I did it! I finally did it! I was finally able to do something right with my horn! This is the best night ever!”

_Wow, she’s so happy… and she’s so pretty when she’s this excited._

Spike smiled warmly as he blew his nose. Taking a moment to think however, he finally realized something.

“Hey… what will our friends think? About us?”

“Ohh…” Sweetie’s ears drooped. “Well, actually… I already kind of told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.”

Spike’s eyes went wide. “You… you did?”

“I had to! I felt really guilty that I was slacking off during our Crusading and keeping my feelings a secret to them!” she asserted. “They’re my best friends, and I thought they should know the truth.”

Spike started to chuckle again. “Now what’s so funny?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s just, I just realized something else while you were talking.”

“What’s that?”

“Twilight’s going to be in for a _really_ big surprise when she gets back home tomorrow morning.”

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_  
  
_Today, I learned that as a friend, you may always want to support them and help them out when they’re in a real sticky jam, especially when it’s not strawberry-flavored. But you should never take complete control and try to force your friends into doing things that they’re not comfortable doing._  
  
_Two of my very best friends taught me this lesson! Ooh, I can’t tell you who they are, though! This time, it’s going to be a secret that I will keep through and through, and I will not let Spike and Sweetie Belle down!_  
  
_Your friend,_  
_Pinkie Pie_  
  
_P.S. Can you tell Luna that I thought her moon was really pretty tonight? Thanks!_

“And… there we go. All done!”

Rarity ceased holding out the scroll under Pinkie’s umbrella hat with her magic. “Very good, then. We can get Spike to send it to the princess in the morning.”

They were both walking back to their homes now. It was still raining, but nowhere near as heavily as before.

“Yeah… hey, where did Fluttershy go?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure,” said Rarity, looking all around her. “Was it just me, or did something seem a little… off about her? As in, did she seem upset about something to you?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it,” answered Pinkie.

“I wonder what has her so down.”

Fluttershy was behind them, watching them from a distance before she turned around and started to head back towards her cottage.

_How hard can it be just to say four simple words? That’s all I have to say. Just four._

“I love you, Rarity.”

* * *

“Hey, girls!” a voice called from a distance.

“What in the world…?” Rarity responded.

“Oh my gosh! Twilight!” Pinkie shouted.

They looked ahead of them to see none other than Twilight Sparkle as she trotted over to the pair, her mane soaked from the rain.

“What a surprise!” said Rarity. “I thought you were still in Canterlot until tomorrow!”

“The Princess let me come home early,” said Twilight. “Actually, she seemed… kind of hasty about it, like she wanted me out of there as soon as possible. She even had some of her royal guards escort me to my train.”

She looked behind her towards the view of Canterlot in the horizon. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were drawn to it too, but something about the capital city seemed off.

“Hey, what’s that pink bubble over the city?” asked Pinkie, pointing off into the horizon.

“I’m not sure,” replied Twilight. “It got put up as soon as my train left.”

“That’s… most peculiar,” said Rarity. “So, how was Canterlot? You and Spike got to spend some time with your parents, I heard?”

“Mm-hmm. It was really exciting. Except earlier today, when they asked me if I was ‘excited’ for Shining Armor. Not sure what that was about. But other than that, yeah, it was really fun to see them again.”

“Ooh! Did you get to go to lots of fancy parties while you were there?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “What about Donut Joe? Did you tell him I said hi?”

“Well… no I didn’t go to that many parties. I did see Donut Joe though, and I _did_ mention you to him, Pinkie.” She started to walk past them, much to their looks of concern. “Well, it was nice catching up with you two, but I should probably get home now and make sure Spike is alright.”

Rarity suddenly cut in front of her and blocked her path.

“Oh, but darling you simply mustn’t!”

“Huh? Why not?” she asked, tilting her head. “What’s going on, Rarity?”

“I absolutely insist that you stay at my house, Twilight!” said Rarity, forcefully turning her friend in the other direction. “You’ll catch a cold otherwise, and besides… let’s just say there’s a _few_ things I need to tell you about.”

“Yeah! And don’t worry about Spike!” said Pinkie Pie. “We walked with him back home and he’s just peachy keen!”

“Um… I, okay,” said Twilight, admitting defeat. “Well, my bellhop’s delivering my bags to my library, so I guess I don’t need to stop at home… Alright, Rarity! It’s a sleepover!”

“Excellent!” Rarity responded. “You just go on ahead; I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Okay. Good night, Rarity! Good night, Pinkie Pie!”

“Oh, hey Twilight!” called Pinkie suddenly.

“Yeah?” she asked, walking back over.

Pinkie took off her umbrella hat and handed it to Twilight.

“Here you go! That’ll keep your pretty little head all nice and dry!”

“Gee, thanks, Pinkie, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want to see you getting all—”

“Oh, don’t worry about me!” She pulled out another umbrella hat and placed it on her head. “I’m all set! Besides, what are _good_ friends for?” She then gave Twilight a soft kiss on the forehead, which made Twilight’s cheeks blush.

“Uh, okay. Well, t-thanks again, Pinkie! Good night!”

After she walked away, Rarity made a deep sigh while Pinkie Pie was bouncing in the air with glee.

“Oh, man! I’m getting so close to finally— Hey Rarity, what’s wrong?” asked Pinkie.

“Ohh… it’s nothing, really.”

“Tell me!”

“It’s just… I’m not sure what to think. I’m happy for Sweetie Belle and all. However… I’ve always dreamt about marrying the perfect stallion since I was a young foal, but now my younger sister has found her first concrete love before _I_ have.”

“It’s okay, Rarity. I’m sure you’ll find your special somepony eventually!” She put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder to console her.

“I know… but it feels like there’s an increasing string of romances happening all around me,” she lamented. “And it’s simply driving me off the wall! If I have to see two more ponies finding love in Ponyville before I do, I’m going to just **SNAP**!”

* * *

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Ponyville, the proud brown-haired earth pony Caramel was once more walking down the meadow path, passing by Sweet Apple Acres.

But from behind a tree, unbeknownst to him, somepony was watching him walk past, from behind a freshly bucked apple tree.

_C’mon now, AJ. You’re a big mare now. You can do this. It’s easy. Y’all just gotta go over there… and ask him. It’s so simple. Y’all can do this! Y’ALL CAN DO THIS!_  
  
_OKAY, HERE AH GO!_

“Hey, Caramel!”

“Huh?” he asked, whipping his head to the left, where Applejack bashfully emerged from behind the tree and began to walk over to the fence. “Oh, hey there, AJ. What’s hangin’?”

“Ah was… just, just wonderin’… Would you, um…”

Caramel waited for her to finish. “Yeah…?”

“Aw, heck with it! I really like you Caramel, okay? And ah’ve liked y’all for a really long time now! So, do y’all want to go out and get a bite to eat with me, sometime?”

“…Sure?”

**~FIN~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: THE GEMMED SATYR!


End file.
